The Days of our Lives
by The Dark Reincarnation
Summary: My frist real story! This is an ongoing fic starting with how they all met and their lives growing up. An inside look at why the 6teen crew are what they are. To sum it all up, a neverending drama with cute moments in between. Please R
1. We're two kids alone in the mall

**An/ Okays! My first fic. I know, I know, I probably have a million spelling mistakes and got a few things wrong but whatever okay, I need a beta reader anyways. -grins and put's up "Help Wanted" sign- So... If anyone's intrested contact me through e-mail which is on my bio and we'll talk, I just need you to be good in spelling and grammar, that's all. -Ahem- Back to the story, this is about the 6teen gang and how they met and why they are as they are (also after that will be plots, plots, plots and more plots!). I'm starting off with Jen and Jude simply because I took snowboarding and my instructor told me the same thing. That is how I practise over the summer so that my skillz don't get rusty. So snowboarding/skateboarding... Two kids alone, divorce thingy.. It starts a plot. The other's will be introduced and everyone will get their fair share don't worry. As for pairings, yes I do like Jen/Jude but that doesn't mean it has to be that way. Star will be in this of course and as will Serenity. Nikki and Jonesey are a must for me. Caitlin will have her fair share of boyfriends before settling down with "the one" Keep on reading to find out and I promise I will update as much as I can!**

Divorced kids always got it bad. When your parent's split up you go through phases of angst, anger, self pity and false hope. Every kid goes through it differently so the fact Jen was hating this more than Jonsey is not a shock or wonder. When Jen's family split up all she could do was think about how they would get back together. For years she held onto that false hope and when her mom started dating again she was crushed. So as a kid she always strived to be strong and independent and that helped a lot with her leadership skills and academics. _Be the best, be the best... _Was always driven in her mind. If she wanted something she was going to get it! Her competitive nature got her into sports at an early age and at eight she wanted to be a professional snowboarder. To do that, she had to learn skateboarding because her instructor said some weird quote about how snowboarding was skateboarding but without wheels... Anyway she had a tough time and let me tell you, sweet Jen turns into a rascal when she can't do something right.

"Dumb skateboard! Ugh! I hate it hate it hate it!" she squealed in a typical eight year old voice as she trudged through the mall defeated, mini skateboard in hand. Her mom had left her at the arcade to go off with her dumb boyfriend with his dumb haircut off somewhere to a dumb place. Jen had brought her skateboard with her because she thought the nice shiny floors in the mall would be easy to practice on. She had stepped outside and put a tiny sneaker to her mini board and took off. She had quickly learned a small fact about shiny floors...

Shiny floors equal fast!

So she fell down and got embarrassed as a few teenaged punks laughed at her, commenting something about little girls and wannabe skaters. This had brought her close to tears and with a pout she hastily took her skateboard and stormed off in a random direction. Now children have a tendency to get lost when they are angry, and the mall looked huge compared to her so the feeling of abandonment escalated. She hurried off, running fast trying to find a trusted adult. All she could see were busy people who all looked like evil strangers. Jen sniffed and held back a sob, quickly running out of breathe. She couldn't do it! She couldn't find anyone!

"Oh! Why did I have to leave the arcade?" she asked herself with a pout as she sat down on a bench, dropping the now hated skateboard on the ground. She tried to get her mind off the fact she was alone in a mall she barely knew, starving to death and probably going to be abducted by a stranger... And she _still _wouldn't be able to learn how to ride the skateboard! Her eyes wandered over to the pretty fountain and she sighed in content, listening to the water crash and watching in amazement at how the water spurred upward endlessly.

"Hey..." came a voice that startled Jen out of her trance and her head shot to the noise. Sitting on the bench opposite to her was a boy her age lightly kicking his feet. He had blonde hair that stuck out in cropped strands and bangs that just barely covered his eyes. He was wearing a red T-shirt with normal dark blue jeans with his white sneakers peaking out from beneath them. He seemed to be alone and Jen looked left and right to see if he was talking to her. Apparently he was.

"Hey..." she replied back uncertainly, arching her brown eyebrow at him. She didn't know what to say really as she stared at the boy's features. He didn't look hyper like the other boys in her school, you know the one's that had cooties...

"Why did you throw your toy on the ground?" he asked tilting his head at her and his shaggy hair fell over his eyes with the action. He was kicking his feet again in boredom.

"Toy? What-Oh! You mean my skateboard... Well let me tell you, it is a very hard sports activity that I am trying to master." she said with an air of importance as she kindly explained to him what it was. "I didn't throw it, I placed it on the ground because I have concluded that no one but big kids can ride these things." she said with a humph as she stared down at the offending object.

The boy got up and walked over picking up the skateboard and looking it over. Jen blinked up at him as his tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth in thought. She thought it looked funny so she giggled slightly.

"Can I try?" he asked smiling, his blue eyes shining with the thought of trying something new. He heard about skateboarders and how they would go up ramps and jump all around. This had excited him but his mom had forbidden it, saying it was too hard for a little boy like him.

"Ugh.. Didn't you hear me? If I can't do it than it is impossible that you can." she said flipping her hair over her shoulder importantly like little girls did when they explained the obvious. She then folded her arms in an amused way and pretended to casually say, "But if you want to try than go ahead.." it came out sounding a bit more conceited than anything else. The reason for Jen's tone was that in school no boy could beat her in gym and she was always told, "Girls can't play sports!" or "Guys are better than girls." so she felt a need to prove herself in every single way. The girls in her class didn't like to play sports, and this made Jen sad because the girls would always tease her about how she was a boy and didn't act like a girl.

The boy seemed oblivious to her doubtfulness and nodded excitedly. He set the kid sized board down and put a steady foot on the center. With a small shove of his left leg he slowly moved forward. Jen watched silently, waiting to see when he too would mess up and give up like she did. Instead, he tried a few times more with that same pace, gently putting his left leg behind his right as he picked up the pace. Jen stared disbelievingly, he was actually doing it! The boy then remembered how the older guys would jump onto the rims of things and he wanted to try it too. Testing out his luck he jumped up, thinking that by some force the skateboard would go right with him.

It did all right, but that didn't mean he did it properly. He had jumped onto the rim of the fountain but because it was his first time it tipped over, causing him to fall in.

"Ah!" the little boy had yelled out in a fairly high pitch as he lost balance and got soaked. Jen hurried over and lent him a hand.

"Are you okay, are you okay!" she asked worriedly as she held out a hand. He sputtered some water out and ran an irritated hand through his hair that was dripping wet and it fell flat on his head. He then took her hand and slowly got up, not before sneaking a penny into his jean pocket.

"Thanks.." he started, his eyes wide from shock. Jen had a pink sweater on (almost like the one she has when she's sixteen) and took it off to put it over the wet boy's shoulders. He shook his hair causing little droplets to fall all over her light green T-shirt. She didn't care as she went into 'Jen Mode' where she was worrying over him and checking for signs of injuries.

"That was... That was... SO COOL!" the boy shouted starling poor Jen, causing her to fall down on the floor with a thump. The boy started shaking with glee as he started to jump in that one spot. "I wanna do that again, I wanna do that again!" he squeal boyishly as he took out the board from the water.

Jen blinked in surprised, she was expecting him to whine and cry... Yet here he was jumping up and down after taking a plunge in some very cold water. Uh... Where was the calm kid from five minutes ago? "Errm, glad to see you are okay..." she said as she got up, dusting the behind of her blue faded jeans with the pretty sparkles and pink bunny belt. Hey, she was into sports but that didn't mean she couldn't look nice herself.

"Yups yups!" he said with an equal excitement as before, but soon he stopped and looked over at Jen. With a smile he gave her a thumbs up. "That was cool, thanks. My name is Jude, what's your name?" he asked her. She smiled back and with a nod she extended her hand out to him in a formal greeting.

"My name is Jen Masterson." she said proudly and he nodded back, taking her hand and shaking it.

"Cool..." he said again and his stomach rumbled. He sighed and rolled his eyes before looking around him. "I'm hungry... When is Wyatt gunna be here?" he asked himself as he whined, his stomach answering back with another low rumble.

"The food court is right over there silly, we can get something to eat right now!" Jen said happily as she pointed behind her. Jude sniffed as the tantalizing aroma's hit his nose. He gave a happy smile and went back into hyper mode.

"Got's any money?" he asked with hopeful eyes, piercing into her like a rabid wolf as the hunger drove him to the brink of insanity. Jen sheepishly dug a hand through her pockets trying to find some change. She fished out a loonie and a sole penny. Jude did the same and grabbed the stolen wet penny, a few dimes, a nickel here and there, and a lonely quarter. "Ugh..." Jude began, reliesing that two dollars couldn't do much. He sobbed lightly, trying to hold back his disappointment.

Jen blushed, remembering that she had spent the ten dollars she had at the arcade and felt bad. "Uh... What do we do now?" she asked him. Jude scratched the back of his neck and once again his tongue cutely poked out of the corner of his mouth as his brows furrowed together in thought. He shrugged and sat down on the bench, his wet jeans making a flopping sound.

"I guess we wait for my friend Wyatt, his mom is coming with him and she'll buy us lunch." he said with hope and looked up at the big clock ahead. His eyes narrowed as he analyzed the clock. For a second his eyes screwed over in confusion but then giving up, he looked a Jen. "Can you tell the time?" he asked her. Jen blinked again, a trait she had when she just couldn't believe something.

"You can't tell time?" she asked with a disbelieving tone of voice. She looked up at the clock and she too scrunched up her eyes to focus in on the hands and numbers. "It says... 1.. No, 12...05. 12:05" she said with a certain nod. "What grade are you in anyway? You look older but are you in grade one or something?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, her blue eyes darting over him to check if that was possible. Jude pouted.

"No way! I'm in third grade... I just don't know how to tell time that's all..." Jude said casually, not wanting to continue. Truth was, the teacher wanted to put him in a special class and he wasn't about to tell that to a girl who thought she knew everything, she would laugh at him! Or worse, think he was retarded like all the other kids did and go away from him. Oh he had friends all right, it's just that some kids picked on him because he didn't know how to answer the teacher's questions. But Wyatt was his friend ever since kindergarten and he always made him feel better.

Jen shrugged. "Okay.. Well your friend better hurry, it's already lunchtime and I'm starving!" she said dramatically and put a hand to her forehead for emphasis. Jude sighed and replied with a simple 'I hope so'

**An/ Okays! That was the first Chapter! Please Read and Review! Also, I take constructive critisism, I always want to improve my work and how can I fix my story if you are only telling me like "Oh it sucks!' or "Jude was SOOO out of character!" Tell me how he was out of character and WHY the story sucks so I can fix it. Anyways, with that said... Hope you stay for another chapter!**


	2. Meeting Wyatt and a day of Fun

AN/ Hi guys, I wanted to give a quick update. Thanks BookJunkie for saying nothing was wrong and thanks xxsnowbunnyxx, I was hoping that it was on the cute side. After all, what else are eight yearr olds _but _cute? Hopefully I won't disapoint with this chapter, it's 5:00 in the morning and although I feel wide awake I guess there's room for mistakes. -sighs- If only I had a proper spell-check instead of this online thing that I can't even copy and paste the corrections to save me time. But oh well, I love this story and I want to keep reveiwers happy. P

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It was 12:10 when Wyatt arrived with his mom and boy was Jude happy! He had got up and immediately greeted his friend while the mother apologized for being late. Jen had shyly got up, suddenly feeling akward. She had just met this boy and although he was nice and they got along great, he was still pretty much a stranger to her. She felt it wasn't right to intrude in their little plans just because she was alone and felt sorry for herself, so blushing and murmuring a faint goodbye she stared to leave.

Wyatt was smiling at his friend, asking him about why he was wet and how he got that skateboard when Jude had turned around to introduce an already leaving girl. "Mrs.Williams, Wyatt, I'd like you to meet my friend Jen here." he said as he gave her a smile and she blushed some more, stopping her attempt to leave unnoticed. "She let me use her skateboard and we hung out awhile so is it okay if she tags along too?" he asked Mrs.Williams and also Wyatt, hoping it was okay.

Mrs.Williams looked over to the eight year old girl and smiled, "Of course," she started but then her expression changed to a slightly concerned one. 'But where are your parents? Are you alone here?" she asked with her dark eyes focusing in on how the young girl squirmed uncomfortably.

"My mom is here, but I'm afraid that she's too busy right now and left me to play for awhile." she looked up at the older woman's expression and reliesed how bad that sounded. "Not that she abandoned me! I just decided I wanted to go outside of the arcade that's all..." she added quickly, her blue eyes wide hoping that the lady could understand.

Wyatt had to smile at the girl's rushed antics and went over, "Hi Jen, my name is Wyatt Williams...I'm a good friend of Jude's." He said a little softly as he lightly nodded to her. Jen smiled back and noticed how completely different Jude's friend was compared to him. He was shy and kind, not totally laid back and more of that nice kid that would get A's and got along with everybody. He was dark, but that didn't matter to her. Why would it? Race wasn't a factor and she was already beginning to like Wyatt. He had light brown eyes as opposed to his mother's dark ones and his wirey hair wasn't black or braided, merely a brown tamed afro upon his little head.

"Hi Wyatt, nice to meet you." she then looked up his mother and gave a nod of thanks and a sincere smile. "Also, thank you Mrs.Willaims for allowing me to come along." she said sweetly and Mrs.Williams had to smile and give a small laugh.

"No problem at all dear." she replied. Hearing Jude's stomach rumble her small laugh turned to a greater one. "Now, I know my boys are hungry and I'm sure the little lady would like to have a bite as well. So why don't we all head for the food court and pick out something to eat?" she suggested. Jude had cheered and nodded over and over frantically as Wyatt and the 'little lady' also agreed. Mrs.Williams gave a little wink and took the children over to the food court.

_At the food court_

"I feel like eating Tacos..." Jude said as they were deciding what to eat.

"Well I like noodles better..." Wyatt said as he glanced over to the Chinese fast food restaurant

"Jen, which one would you choose?" Jude asked her, with his eyes pleading for her to choose Tacos.

"Err... I don't really feel like eating, so you guys decide." was Jen's shy reply.

"No way, you're eating as well new buddy, so which one?" Said Wyatt boldly, trying to hint towards the Chinese restaurant.

"How about burgers and fries since we can't choose between either one?" Jen suggested and from the look on the boys faces they actually thought it was a good idea, thus ending the argument.

Wyatt told his 'mum' what they wanted to eat so they headed over to a burger joint that was taken from the 50's and made into a diner. The three kids stood in line with Mrs.Williams and had all wanted the Happy Kidz Komboz meal that included a surprise toy. Jude's stomach growled once again at him and he clutched around the upset belly. The line seemed to take forever to the impatient toddler and the off-key music was irritating him. "Ugh...When is it gunna be our turn?" he asked Wyatt's mother as his stomacher gurgled for the second time. She replied with a 'Soon 'as she tried to count how many people were in front of them.

"Only a couple more people dear, so just be paitient." she said to him kindly and gave him a tolerant smile.

Jen looked at the pained expression on his face and once again saw those hungry eyes. "Did you even eat breakfast?" she asked blinking at the thought of actually skipping the most important meal of the day. Her gym teacher and snowboard trainer always said to have a good balanced breakfast so that you can give the day with 110. Didn't he know that too?

Wyatt was the one who answered, "Jude doesn't eat breakfast, his parents go to work early and his mom always leaves him some money for the bus. He comes here on his own and we usually meet up for lunch and keep him company." he shrugged lightly at the news that had Jen's eyes wide and her jaw dropped. She then had turned her head sharply to look at the boy with the ashamed downcast eyes.

"You're parents let you come here _alone_! You mean you are all by yourself for the whole day here in this mall?" she asked disbelievingly. Jude grimaced and looked at her from the corners of his eyes, his head low and his hands in his pocket.

"It's not like that-" he started but was interrupted by the parent here and she smiled sadly, knowing how hard it was for Jude to talk about that. "Kids, were up. What would you all like?"

The boys happy for a distraction quickly said, "Happy Kidz Komboz!" and Jen nodded in agreement. Mrs.Williams nodded back and told the cashier..s? that they wanted to order the Kidz Komboz. It was then the four grimaced as the 'off-key music' was actually the off key singing and they got an earful of cheesy (no pun intended) songs about cheeseburgers and patties. Gah, it was murder to their eardrums.

When they got their orders the kids took their trays to sit down at a table. Wyatt was putting his little pinky in his ear to get rid of the ringing that had begun. Jen laughed and sat down beside Jude and Wyatt beside his mother of course. This was all still pretty weird for her but it was a nice weird... She liked how easy it was to talk to them and how they weren't so 'bleh' to the fact she was a girl.

Jude on the other hand was trying to conceal the fact he was embarrassed beyond belief. For a kid of eight like him, the need to fit in and be excepted was great. Wyatt was the only one who knew of his real life, and now this girl knew and he barely even knew her! A blush formed on his face as he unwrapped his cheeseburger and took a bite. He remembered her wide, disbelieving eyes and knew that was how everyone would react when hearing his story. Wyatt was pretty casual about it, though he told his mom and they had set up little things to make it all better.

'Wyatt... Why did you tell her?' he thought to himself as he dipped a fry into the ketchup. Perhaps it was because she was alone too, and her mother left her alone in the arcade like his did at the mall. he looked over at the happy girl eating her meal and chatting with his friend, comparing what they liked and disliked. She seemed WAY different from him, almost stuck up in a way... But she was really nice, he could tell. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad having her around, she wasn't like any girl he met yet. He wasn't into the cootie thing, but he had definitely stayed with the crowd of his own gender. Who wants to play dress up anyways?

Awhile later

"Okay kids, what would you like to do next?" Mrs.Williams asked. The boys shrugged as the looked around, slightly bored at all the clothing stores and big kids stuff. It was only when their eyes fell upon one _particular _store did they suddenly seem live and awake.

"TOY STORE!" they both shouted and ran towards the glass that portrayed all the cool action figures. They pressed their faces up against it and their eyes skidded over all the shiny objects.

Jen folded her arms and shook her head. "Boys..." she said pointedly and with a raise of her head and a 'huff' she walked towards the entrance of the mini mall made just for kids. Mrs.Williams laughed at her antics and gave an amused smile.

"Okay...Toys it is..."

-

-

-

"I wanna be the knight!" Wyatt said as he picked up an action figure of an armored man.

"'Kay, I'll be the fearsome dragon..." he said as he picked up a stuffed toy dragon. The two started play fighting and Jen was busy checking out a selection of dolls. Actually, she didn't like Barbie at all, she was trying to figure out what other girls saw in her. 'She's just made of plastic' she thought to herself.

"Gosh, this isn't working Jude!" Wyatt said and stopped the fighting.

"Why not?" Jude asked curiously, tilting his head at the two toys as to see what was wrong with them.

"Well, we gotta have something for the knight to win when he defeats the dragon." Wyatt said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean, why fight when theirs nothing to gain?"

Jude nodded, " I see your point guy, we are gunna need to think of something..." His eyes wandered over to Jen as she picked up a princess Barbie. His eyes widened in thought. "How's about a princess? Hey Jen! Do you wanna play with us? Bring that Barbie doll too!" he called over, startling her as she checked the princess in her hand.

"Okay.." she said and made her way over to the Toy Mat, a place kids could play and try out toys. She sat down next to the three so it almost was like a small triangle between them. "What are you playing anyway and what does 'she' " Jen waved the Doll Princess in her hand "-have to do with it?" she asked and noted the dragon and knight. Jude and Wyatt smiled proudly before answering, content that she wanted to play.

"We are playing 'Knight and Dragon' " Jen gave a giggle at the obviousness. Wyatt just gave a pointed look before continuing "And we will be fighting over the princess because Jude captured you and now I have to save you." Jude nodded in agreement. Jen on the other hand stared at them both.

"You want me to play damsel in distress and let you just win me over like I'm a trophy?" she asked skeptically, her brows furrowed together in obvious disagreement.

"Yes." they both said obliviously and Jen sighed. "Okay, whatever..." she said and placed her Barbie behind the Dragon.

"Help me help me!" cried the princess as she stared at her knight, Wyatton as the evil Dragon Dude held her captive in his wake. "Don't worry Princess Jennifer I'll save you!" cried Wyatton importantly as he charged at the evil beast. "No way am I letting you have the princess!" Cried Dragon Dude in a raspy voice as he too charged towards his enemy. The two battled it out, plastic sword against fluff as they fought for possession of the princess. In fact, the fight looked so intense that Princess Jennifer just couldn't stand to watch. "Okay, you two don't have to fight over me!" she squealed girlishly. Wyatton shook his head, "I must save my Lady!" he cried bravely and once again charged after the Dragon. But... Dragon Dude caught the plastic knight with his plushy mouth and Wyatton fell prey to the cotton teeth. "NOOO!" cried the bold knight and he died. Dragon Dude laughed, "Yay! I won the princess!"

"Oh no you didn't!" Cried the princess-WARRIOR Princess as she stood as Xena. Dragon Dude's jaw dropped Wyatton as he gazed in confusion. That momentary lapse cost him as Xena let out a "EEEEEE YAYAYAYYAYA!" and killed Dragon Dude. "Hah! Told you I wasn't just some sort of prize!" she said confidently.

"Jen!" said Wyatt, sighing as he put down the plastic knight. "That's not how it goes! You're the princess, you are supposed to be weak and vulnerable like a girl!" he said and rolled his eyes at her. "Don't you know that?"

Jude looked down at Dragon Dude. "Oooh.. She knocked the stuffing out of him!" he said in wonder, "Can princesses do that?"

"Yes..." Jen said and folded her arms, "Girls can do anything, and we are not vulnerable and weak!" she said with a huff and turned her head to the side.

"Wait a second, nobody's weak and all... Why don't we just relax and play something else?" Jude suggested and with only child-like innocence the two nodded and forgot

that they were angry at each other. All at the mention of playing...

_Four Hours Later _

The three new friends had been everywhere with Mrs.Williams, having fun and simply talking. The favourite thing they've done by far was the amusement ride, though Wyatt was scared to go on at first and Jen wondered if she'd be able to keep her lunch. In the end he loved it and she got to keep the food well in her stomach. Jude had skated around as they went from store to store and took on teaching Jen how to do it properly. She was happy to say she was getting better and better and although she wouldn't try half of the stuff Jude was doing (he always fell flat on his butt) she managed to keep the speed up and go in the direction she wanted.

They went back to the fountain happily as the kids decided they needed a break. They had bought ice cream and sitting beside the fountain being as cute as cute can be was a definite Hallmark moment.

Mrs.Williams smiled at the children and casually looked around as she got a moment's peace. Her eyes landed on the big clock and she was shocked so much time had passed. "Oh gosh, 4:30 already?" she asked herself as she checked on her own silver band wristwatch.

Jen stopped licking her strawberry vanilla ice cream and her blue eyes widened to a scary width. "Oh my gosh! My mom is coming back right now! I gotta go to the arcade quick!" she said and started to get up. "Thank you for a great time Mrs.Williams. Goodbye Wyatt, Goodbye Jude." she said and started to leave.

"Wait, your skateboard!" Jude yelled and waved it with his two hands. Jen quickly turned around. Jude looked sad, "I had a fun time, will you be coming here tomorrow?" he asked her shyly. Jen blinked at him, considering it. I mean-she _did _need those skateboard lessons and she did have fun. After all, he loved skateboarding so much why not let him have another go for tomorrow?

She gave him a smile "Sure, I'll be at the water fountain tomorrow at the same time as today. Do you have a telephone?" she asked him. Jude nodded and Mrs.Williams gave her a pen and paper. Jen quickly scribbled it down and handed the two items to Jude. She then turned to Wyatt, "Will you be here tomorrow too?" she asked hopefully, as today he had become her new buddy as well.

Wyatt nodded, giving her a shy smile as he glanced at his mom for approval. She nodded to him and his shy smile broke into a wide happy one. "Yups! We will both be here tomorrow at noon."

Jen waved once again, happy to know that her new friends would definitely see each other again. Taking her skateboard and ice cream, she headed back to the arcade where she hoped a not-to-worried mother waited for her.

The two boys watched the little girl leave and smiled. Wyatt saw his mother getting up, knowing that it was time to go and make dinner for dad. Sighing, he turned to Jude, "Hey we gotta go too, so should we drive you home?" he asked with concern and pouted over his best friend's well being. Jude just grinned and nodded, glad that he wouldn't be left here on his own again. Hey, after all it was three hours before his mom came home so he'd probably be able to play some video games and watch a few cartoons.

So they too left and the three had returned back to the comfort of their homes, looking forward to another day that would turn out to be the start of a forever growing friendship.


	3. A freak or just different?

It had been four months since the three had gotten together, and since then they had dubbed themselves as the 'Tremendous Trio'. Jen and Wyatt came every weekend at the mall just in time for Jude's lunch call. Jen had of course, convinced her mom to let her stay under the supervision of Mrs.Williams and soon they were seeing each other after school for sleepovers and all-nighters. Though when the sad days of weekday lives kicked in they still made a pact to see each other at every single recess. Jen was in Mr.Bluntberry's class and the two boy's had sweety pie Mrs.Sanna, so they often shared their different activities that went on during such and such period.

Jude was getting better at skateboarding, especially when he had asked from help from a professional skateboarder. _A Punk Teen. _Never mind that Jen was nearly pulling his hair and dragging him away, _begging _him not to embarrass her that way. Wyatt was biting his nails at the sight of the blue mo-hawk and vulgar language clothing. But Jude pulled it off after the teen got a few laughs at his attempts at tricks and said he'd help them out but only _before noon. _Thus Jen had given him the skateboard if he'd promise to show her how to do it aswell. He had promised.

Wyatt was sharing poems and he had gotten a mini guitar for his birthday that passed in the first month. A big birthday was spent and they had played games together and Jen got introduced to the rest of Wyatt's family. So the big boy was now nine years old. He had immedietly attached himself to music and writing little kiddy songs. His parents were so impressed with the talent and passion he was showing for 'The Arts' they put him into guitar lessons and vocals. Although shy, he had quickly sought out the praise of his two friends and was overjoyed when they had said, "It was the most amazing musical piece I have ever heard Wyatt!" and, "Woah, that rocked my little pink toe socks with the manaical bunnies!". I'm sure that you can work out who said what by yourselves now...

As for Jen, she had insisted on the fact of learning how to skateboard purely for acurate speed and balance skills. Though enjoyable it was more of Jude's thing. Her snowboarding skills had improved marvelously and was complimented by her instructor. The rush you felt when going downhill, the wind whipping your hair as you sped on... To her that was what life was all about. But _no. _She needed _more. _Her drive for success had probed her to try new things like, skiing, hockey, figure skating, gymnastics, tennis, baseball, soccer... You name it. She was training herself to be the best she could be and that was quite intimidating, even for her friends. Her family had laughed and joked of course, and her classmates hated the fact she could challenge them to the x-treme. Their disaprovment had only caused the flaring temper to grow and between her mom's dating and her sister's outshining, she had become fiesty and bossy. Yet every leader is a good team player and her friends had helped her through everything.

Yup, their lives together were swell.

Jen sighed as the reflection had wasted about ten minutes of her time, the math in front of her refusing to get complete. It was nothing hard, just some division and multiplication no biggie. Neatly writting down the answers she had allowed herself to regain ultimate focus. That was why she nearly jumped out of her skin when the teacher spoke out so suddenly.

"Class, we have a new student today arriving from a long visit to China. Please do your best to welcome Ms. Nikki Wong." said Mr.Bluntberry, his voice loud and demanding attention. Jen sat up in her seat as she awaited yet another girl that would make her life unbearable. By the sound of her name she bet it was one of those cheerleader types. 'Hey Nikki your so fine...' You know that rhyme...

She was more than a little surprised and so were her judgmental classmates. In walked a Chinese girl with long black hair, purple eyes and she was a little skinny. Sound's normal right? No, she was far from. Jen's mouth dropped as she looked at the girl's hair that had purple highlights and then to her clothes that she had made 'unique'. She had worn alice shoes with purple and black socks and her jeans were ripped slightly and she had a buckle that practically hung off her. Her shirt was a normal white with a picture of a red dragon on it. She had a slightly bored expression on her face as she nodded, expecting their gazes and sat down beside Jen. It was the only table after all that was empty.

Jen was shocked at first, but then she felt bad as the girls started to whisper behind them. Comments like, "Freak" and "_What _is she wearing?" came along that were just loud enough for them to hear. Pity became over her as she looked at Nikki who was sitting beside her with an elbow on the desk and her chin resting against her hand. It was obvious that she could hear, but she merely rolled her eyes and shrugged. Again, Jen was shocked. Didn't this girl even care? Weren't her feeling crushed? Didn't she feel singled out and alone? Well... she guessed no as the girl started doodling on a piece of lined paper.

"Hi, I'm Jen." she whispered to Nikki and gave a welcoming smile. The girl had looked at her from the corners of her eye in boredom and blinked, almost as if saying, "Yeah, and I should care because...?" Instead of gruffing about how rude the new girl was being Jen's smile only got wider. "Oh don't worry, I already know you're Nikki. Welcome to Maplegarden Elementary."

Nikki had smiled back, the smile had almost suited as a smirk. "Thanks...Jen." she had said and got back to listening to the pointless babble of the teacher.

_At Recess_

"So Jen, tell us about this new girl." said Wyatt as they sat on the daisy-filled field playing 'Stella Ella Olla' a simple hand game that children well under the age of ten played to pass tha time. At the mention of Nikki she shrugged, not really knowing how to describe the weird reluctant girl.

"She's different." Jen started out as she slapped Jude's hand at 'ten' and gave a triumphant grin as he 'Owed'. Wyatt had widened his eyes in surprise at Jen's choice of words but nodded for her to continue. 'Like, you should see her really.. The clothes she's wearing is kinda strange. And she's doesn't seem nice at all!" once again a spaced out Jude got his hand slapped for the second time as the count to ten had commenced.

"Well... Did you try talking with her? Sometimes people only seem like their mean at first because they are so shy. Like, I'm different and so are you right?" Jude had put in shyly as he soothed his red hand. Now and days at this age being different was tough, but he guessed if you were nice enough then you could have a chance to fit in. That's how he saw it. His shyness melted away as Jen smiled and nodded, "That's what I thought too-OW!" Jen had suddenly cried as her hand had ripped from Judes to clutch over her other red printed hand.

Wyatt had grinned slyly like a wolf trying to pose as a sheep. "Sorry Jen, you weren't paying attention." Said girl started to gape at him as her eyes rose to meet the challenge, when another certain girl had come up, her presence being made by and overcast shadow. The trio looked up startled and Jen immedietly recognized the new girl.

"Oh hi, what's up?" she asked as she smiled to her polietly. The new girl folded her arms in a slightly protective stance as she held that calculatingly bored look. Jude and Wyatt saw what Jen meant by different as they scanned over her clothing choice and odd hair. The girl had chosen to ignore them as she addressed only Jen.

"The teacher said to be with you during recess, I didn't know anyone else to hang out with so do you mind if I just sit here and watch?" she asked, her tone holding indifference. Jen had rolled her eyes and at that Nikki was about to turn away and save herself the disappointment when she saw what it had actually meant. Jen had smacked herself in the forehead with her hand and muttered, 'dumb' underneath her breath.

"I'm so sorry! How did I not think about that?" Jen asked herself more than Nikki. She gave an apologetic look to her before looking at her two friends. "Jude, Wyatt, this is Nikki Wong, the new girl I told you about. Nikki, meet Jude and Wyatt." she said inclining her head over to the guys as she said their names.

Jude smiled and waved up at her in a goofy yet friendly kind of way, his blue eyes sparkling happily to meet someone new. "Hi Nikki!" he had said with hyper excitment. Nikki was surprised at this as she blinked at him a few times. He seemed to be a combination of dazed and platonic happy.

The next guy was a bit more calmer as he gave a smile and a polite nod of his head. "Hi Nikki, I'm Wyatt. I hope you like our school. It's simply the best." Then he squinted his eyes as he gave a toothy grin revealing one missing tooth. At this Nikki had almost laughed at the cuteness. He seemed so friendly and he wasn't macho and mean. That was the kind of person she liked anyways. They both were.

'Uh... Hi..." she said awkwardly as she lightly drew circles with her toe on the ground. Regaining her confidence she looked back up at them and casually said with a genuine smile, "Mind if I hang out with you guys for awhile." The three had nodded encouragingly.

"Do you know how to play Stella Ella Olla?" asked Jen and tilted her head up at Nikki. Nikki had shook her head and sat down to observe. The brown haired girl actually seemed pleased more than annoyed at being given the chance to explain something. "Oh it's real simple just watch." she had said reassuringly as she took the hand of the two boys in her own. She had made sure that they had overlapped each other so the each could hit the next persons palm. "Stella Ella Olla Quack Quack Quack say 'Yes' Chiqo Chiqo, Chiqo Chiqo Chaq, Say 'Yes' Chiqo Chiqo... FeLOW FeLOW the toilet overflowed!" she paused after a time of them hitting each others palms to the beat of each word in the silly, meaningless rhyme. She them pointedly gave Nikki a stare so that she could see this was the main event of this little game. "So 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9..." Jen had now gulped, it had seemed that the count led for Jude to hit her palm on the beat of 'ten'. Jen's hand was twitching over Jude's as he waggled his eyebrows cutely at her expense. Revenge was sweet...

"10!" he yelled happily and slapped his palm over hers with a triumphant cry of his own. Jen had whipped her hand out of his in defeat as she gave a disapointed gurgle in her throat. Defeat aside she looked at Nikki and held out her palm. "Wanna play?" she asked and Nikki smiled, taking her hand excepting her invitation.

All too soon the bell rang for them to go inside and the four children, although red palmed and flushed in the cheeks, were smiling brightly. Even Nikki, who turned out not to be such a rude little girl after all. That was just her way of dealing with being shy and although she still held that outcast, rebel type of persona she _was _still a kind young little girl who wanted to make friends. She had of course as she reliesed Jen was very enthusiastic about that as she made plans for the next recess and promised she'd show her around the school. So far the people she met weren't those sterotypical types you'd meet.

She and Jen waved goodbye to the two boys as they hurried to line up out beside their class doors. Jen had quickly taken her hand and led her to their's, telling her about how evil the teacher could be if you were late. They stood outside the door as Jen chattered about the people Nikki could like and about those she should stay away from.

" Alison and Jessie are okay, those two leave everyone alone mostly. Todd is a bit mean but once you get to know him he's okay. The girls sitting behind us were Lily, Ember, Christina and Delisha, they are _really _mean." Jen chattered and Nikki nodded in understanding. It was great to know who to keep away from when you were new, because people tend to act differently with "fresh meat" as her father had put in with a joking matter. Like people thought you were vulnerable and wanted a good laugh. Nikki gave an unfeminine snort at that thought, which sounded like a sneeze with her eight year old self. In time she'd perfect that for sure... Anyway, she'd let _no one _walk all over her.

"Out of my way!" was a yell that came from behind them as two strong arms pushed apart Jen and Nikki. "Ow!" they had both cried out and Nikki watched as Jen fell on the floor. Her head turned sharply at the offender and noticed it was a chubby kid with an ugly face and screwed up eyes that seemed to be pushing through to the front of the line. "Hey! You could at least apologies after you push my friend!" Cried the brave girl sprawled on the floor as she quickly got up to yell at the pudgy kid. Nikki blushed faintly... Did Jen just call her her friend?

The boy's eyes squinted at Jen and snarled in familiar offense. "Why should I scrawny? Like I said, you guys were in my way. I suggest you stop talking before I really get angry.' he had somehow made out, his voice an octave deeper than rest of the boys around. Nikki had laughed, was that supposed to be intimidating?

"Ooh... And what's going to happen? You'll squash us underneath that weight? Only if you catch us first." said Nikki as she folded her arms, liking the fact that some action was finally gunna happen! The boy wrinkled his nose and was about to say something nasty but the teacher had already started to usher the kids into the classroom, so with a warning glare he stomped off to take his seat.

"Wow Nikki! You totally stood up to him!" Jen admired the daring words her new friend had used and somehow Nikki seemed so much more mature and older-in a good way of course. Nikki smiled smugly and told Jen a little secret on the way in to class.

"Whe you've lived with whiny brats with sharp tongues for most of your life it's survive or be eaten alive. Me-I'm the type that will not only survive but butcher them whole." Jen blinked and then giggled, not understanding the inside metaphor but heck, with Nikki she had a feeling that there would be many things she did not understand about this Asian Rebel.

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AN/ Wow, I wanted to post this at 6:00 in the morning but... I was really sleepy. Anyways, Happy Valentines Day everybody! Thank you my kind reviewers, I like to know that it's going swell and everything since this is my first story. -Ahem- I'm a little weird with this chapter because I wanted to portray Nikki as herself but as and eight year old. I guess that she's like that and seems more mature and everything... I just hope it feals realistic. Please tell me what you think and feel free to give any suggestions. Till next chapter!

Evil-Sama


	4. Saturday at the Mall

Although the tremendous trio hung out a lot, there was no excluding Nikki. At first it was just a 'Jen's friend' with the boys, only seeing her at recess and hanging out with her here and there. They had together been going to mall on weekends, skateboarding together, one parent babysitting another, movies etc. Nikki hadn't taken part in it for the first two weeks but Jen and her had definetly bonded during classes and such. Even to Nikki, who pretended not to care about those kind of things, felt weird amongst a group of three tight friends. She felt like an intruder and no matter how many times Jen told her she was accepted she still couldn't shake off the feeling. It had stayed that way until that one day something changed their friendship for the better.

They invited her after school to the mall.

It had seemed like a weird thing, what did the mall have anything to do with their friendship? Well tons believe it or not. It was the place that was home to the three and this invitation was almost like they weren't just accepting her as a friend, but as apart of their family. So after Nikki begged her mom and got support from a very convincing Jen (you know how she is), she was allowed to spend the whole Saturday at the mall and with a sleep over at her buddy's house.

That Saturday at 12:00, which seemed really important to Jude for some reason unknown to her, Nikki had squirmed uncomfortably on the bench that aligned next to the water fountain. She couldn't see the others anywhere and was beginning to get nervous. Being alone in the mall without her parents and friends made her fear of the open space and all these strangers. She had even brought a hand to her heart to feel the fast beating. Closing her eyes to calm down she remembered that surrounding herself with positive things would make the situation better. For a girl with a realist opinion on everything since the day she could understand the world around her, that was going to be hard.

_"Deep breaths Nikki, all you have to do is remember these are really nice friends. They don't ditch you, they don't play mind games with you... And no one would be that cruel as to leave a small kid like me in such a big mall. Wait-Small? Kid! Where did **that **come from? I'm a tough girl that can make it through anything and everything. I may look small, and sure being 8 is a kid but..." _

"Hiya Nikki!" Hollered a voice behind her and someone placed their hand's over her eyes. "Guess who?" the voice asked. Now if Nikki wasn't so freaked out she would have been able to tell who it was but unfortunatly for the 'mystery' person behind her she was freaked out within an inch of her life. With fast reflexes she grabbed the person's hand as she gave a scream and within seconds had pulled the hands away from her eyes to turn and stare at the offender with angry-yet totally paranoid- eyes.

It was only Jude. He stayed there from behind the bench with his hands in his baggy dark navy jeans. The top he was wearing suited him fine, a white hoodie with a grey skater gripping onto his skate boards end. Another thing to tell about how much he loved the x-treme sport. Nikki's mouth gaped for a moment in shock and stupor before her over active child temper rushed in replacing the previous fear. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she started to yell.

"Jude? What's wrong with you! You scared me and nearly gave me a heart attack!" she raised a fist for emphasis and shook it so that he could see just how serious she was. Well, Jude didn't take the hint as he started to giggle in a totally boyish way, clutching his sides at her expression. Jude was goofy that way, Nikki had come to relise and although irrititating, it brought a smile to her face.

"Y-You should have seen the look on your face! I was like, "Bwah! And you were all like AHHH!" he started another fit of giggles as he jumped over the bench to sit next to her. "I was waiting for you guys and you didn't notice me." it was here that he gave a pout and Nikki had almost felt bad. Almost. "So I thought I'd give you a little scare to welcome you that's all." he shrugged indifferently and started kicking his feet, which Jen said was a habit he had when he was bored or impatient.

Speaking of Jen, they heard the distant chatter of their loud friend brought their heads to turn and they smiled as they saw Jen, Wyatt and Mrs.Williams walking towards them. The two kids seemed to be engaged in a really interesting discussion that they didn't notice their friend's waves until the two actually spoke up.

"Earth to Jen and Wyatt!" Jude said in a goofy alien voice, "Aircraft smashing back to reality!" he said tilting his head in odd ways to further reanact his version of an alien. Jen and Wyatt snapped out of it as they suddenly became super chipper.

"Hey guys! So sorry we were just talking about stuff." Jen said politely and when she turned to look at Nikki her smile became all the more brighter. It seemed Jen's perkiness was infectious since Wyatt seemed to catch the 'smiling disease'. His smile was so big that you could see each and every missing tooth with the adult teeth just poking out of the gums. It seemed where as they had lost all theirs during grade on his were falling out later then usual. He was down to his last baby teeth and he showed it off to the world with a proud grown up stance.

Nikki had to bite back a giggle as Jen had plopped down beside her enthusiastically. "Oh my gosh guys! We are going to _have _to take Nikki on the roller coaster ride pronto and then we'll be hitting the toy store and the book store and the..."

"Woah woah woah Dude! Please tell me we are going to _eat _first!" Jude whined, suddenly his eyes went wild and he went into panic mode. "I mean I've been starving! If I don't eat now I swear I'm going to die I can feel it! I mean what will happen to me and you guys if I do huh? HUH?" he was cut off by a shake from Jen.

"DON'T panic... Repeat after me... We. Are. Going. To. Eat. Now." she drawed out slowly for him. Jude was getting hyper as his stomach gurgled to him loudly. "We are going to eat now." he said to himself and breathed out a sigh, shaking his head for a second.

Nikki laughed, as did Mrs.Williams. "You must be Nikki, please to meet you. Wyatt and Jen have told me much about you." Nikki smiled and blushed, "Hi Mrs.Williams" she said in an unusually polite voice. Wyatt rolled his eyes but his teasing smile showed he wasn't annoyed with her. Mrs.Williams laughed and shook her head, "You may call me Karla dear (AN:I have no idea if that's her real name, I'm just making one up), a friend of Wyatt's is more than welcome to." she said and smiled as Nikki's cheeks turned a shade redder. "Come now, I'm sure none of you have eaten anything for lunch and it would be cruel to keep Jude waiting any longer." Jude had nodded his head at this frantically as if strongly agreeing.

So the three got up off the benches and followed Wyatt and his mom towards the food court. Nikki had been here in this mall before but never had she noticed how big and interesting it was. With her mom she would never have any fun and would most likely be embarrassed by her parents some way or another. A soft smile graced her lips as she saw how things were going to turn out, Jude acting goofy with Wyatt and Jen chattering away to explain the little details that only to her seemed important.

She had no idea that the food court would result in World War III...

"Please! Can I _please _have my tacos! I barely ever get my choice..." whined Jude as he hopped from foot to foot in agony. Wyatt looked at him disbelievingly as he strongly shook his head.

"You had tacos last week! This time I get my pick! We are eating chicken wings!" Wyatt argued and folded his arms,

"How about something healthy? Like carrot sticks, salads, cucumber slices with some home made dip! And freshly squeezed orange juice, pulp and all!" The two boys stared at her, argument forgotten and mouths agape. Jen looked at Nikki who seemed a little disturbed as well. "What? Eating fruits and veggies is healthy for you! All we've been doing is eating junk food and it's high time we grew up and started acting maturely."

Jude and Wyatt wrinkled their cute little noses in disgust. "Jen how could you?" as Jude as he backed up away from her. "Yeah, you turned into our moms!" Wyatt added as he too back away from her, putting his arms together in front of him in an 'X' shape.

The three had argued some more at the comment and Nikki could only watch as they threw childish insults back and forth to each other, her head moving as if she was watching a tennis tournament. "Okay okay stop!" Nikki cried out when it got way too much. The three froze, Jen pulling on Jude's hair and he doing the same with her's as Wyatt was trying to tackle them both to the ground. "I'm in the mood for something sweet so let's go over to the ice cream stand and by ourselves some ice cream and cakes." since it was Nikki's own money she was spending, she went straight to the ice cream shop and started to order a three scoop cone and a big brownie for herself.

With her commanding and sensible reason, the three shrugged and let go of each other as they followed suite, Jen pulling out her own money and Karla paying for Jude and Wyatt.

Three cones and brownies later they decided to go to the pet store. After all, who doesn't love to gush over cute furry animals? Nikki and Jen were 'oohing' and 'awwing' over a batch of puppies that were playing with each others tails. They were then having a debate over which one was the cutest. Jen had said it was the white one with the black tipped ears and paws. Nikki had argued that it was the black one with the white tipped ears and paws. They had decided that both were adorable and went to gush over the kittens.

Jude and Wyatt, although loving the furry creatures, were checking out all the reptiles. Jude was kneeling on the floor tapping the lowest glass that held a green python. Wyatt was not so brave as he prayed that Jude would not anger it so much that it would burst through the glass. "Dude... It can't do anything!" Jude whined as Wyatt was trying to pull him away. "This glass is really thick.." he added and for emphasis he tapped it hard.

Wyatt had squeaked in attempt not to scream as the snake hissed at Jude's tiny offending finger. "Jude! Stop doing that and why are you saying 'Dude' all the time? You are starting to sound like that teenager." he reasoned as he began to look at the less dangerous, but much less interesting lizards. Being a bit of a hypocrite, he started to draw his finger against the glass so that it would follow. Jude shrugged and joined Wyatt in disturbing the lizard.

"Dunno... It just sounds cool." was his reply and he turned to see Jen and Nikki rush in. He smiled and waved them over to see the various snakes on display. It seems the reason why they had run quickly in was because the manager of the store saw them picking up the kittens from out of their cages. The two were laughing as they saw the man's face redden furiously and his eyes squint while lecturing. "Hi dudes! Had fun looking at the kitty cats?" he asked while sticking his tongue out to a snake.

His only reply was more laughter and Wyatt shook his head. Why couldn't things be normal around him?

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"Okay Nikki, this is the roller coaster that we all know and love!" Wyatt said as he stared up at it. They had been to the pet store and Jude has that craving for speed again. So hopping on his skateboard he had called them over and suggested they show Nikki the amusement ride. They had agreed and after being stopped twice from security (Jude was knocking people over one too many times) they were finally standing in line planning on who goes with whom.

"Nikki and I will be at the front and you guys behind us." Jen stated and looped an arm around her freind's. Jude shook his head immediatly. "No way, I always go in the front so me and Wyatt go." Jen had sighed and rolled her eyes. "Hello? Nikki's first time! Don't be rude, 'sides you always go in front with me because Wyatt doesn't like the front. So HAH!" she said triumphantly and after staring at her for a second Jude shrugged, knowing when he was beat. "Come on we're next!" Jen said excitedly as they rushed to the seats.

Nikki slid in after Jen and started drumming her fingers against the steal bars in aprehension. She couldn't wait to get started! The boys slid in behind them and pulled on their hair, which seemed to be the guy's form of 'Good Luck' before the click of the bars told them they were locked down. The four kids gave a hollered happily as the ride started to go up slowly. Nikki always got impatient with these as the top of the railway hill came closer and closer and she knew what was going to happen when they got there. Jude and Wyatt lifted up their hands behind them and the girls did the same, starting a little countdown before they dropped at high speeds.

"3..2...1..WHOOOOOOOOOO!"

Being assaulted with high speeds and various turns the four kids felt as if their stomachs would drop right out, but by the time it was over they were begging Karla to go again and again. They were granted one more time and it started all over again...

"Ugh... I think Ima gunna VOMIT" Nikki said and clutched her stomach. The three others laughed, remembering how they felt the same way they had first gotten on with the a full stomach. She sat down at the water fall's rim to settle it down. With a big smile excusing her pain she asked, "What are we going to do next?"

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AN: I relise this is short and not really informative but next one will be better P And our boy Jonesy will be next! -WhoOt!- Thanks for the reviews and as for Catlin, she will be making minor apperances here and there, big one when their fifteen and then finally when their sixteen! Warning: After next chapter age skips will happen. Yups, they can't be cute eight-year-old kids forever now can they?


	5. Birthday Dude

AN: Backeth! Oh my gosh you will not believe how stupid my computer is! I would type up a beautiful chapter and a whole chuck of it would suddenly disappear after I've saved! And don't get me started on spell check. Just hang on tight because I have no intention of not completing this story okay? I barely even started it! XD Watch out, I warn you that those 'ackward years' will happen and this is where the funnies really kick it in. You think they're cute **now. **Hahahaha...

**Disclaimer: I do not own the 6teen gang so do not sue me, I'm borrowing them. **

Pfft, as if someone would actually take me to court when I'm one in a thousand of people that write these fanfictions. Anyway on with the fic, I promise I'll make it extra fluffy this time.

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It was just another ordinary day at school, or so the gang thought. Jen and Nikki were quickly changing into their shorts and t-shirts while slipping on their sneakers in a hurried fashion. They were trying to make the two minute rule for changing in the locker room, lest they do five sit-ups. The gym teacher was an okay guy, letting them play dodgeball every Friday and giving them free time here and there to do whatever. Though he had some tough rules that were certainly followed by tough consequences.Today was Friday and excitment for a dodgeball game got the two girls out in a minute.

"Okay you kids, it's Friday and since last game the boys won, they get to choose which form of dodgeball we play." Said Mr. Gerret as he stood near in front of the cross-legged children listening to him attentively. He was a tall lean type of guy who was considerably young, probably around 25. He had a full head of hazelnut brown hair and his almond shaped eyes were green. Right now they were looking at the children with amusement as the girls rolled their eyes and the guys whispered amongst themselves. Finally theu had come to some sort of a conclusion as a timid boy spoke up. "We want to play boys vs girls Dr.Dodgeball." The girls had cheered, liking this choice too and Mr.Gerret gave a nod of aproval. With yet another cheer the girls went on one half of the gym and the boys another.

"Okay, who should be the Doc?" asked Jen as the girls huddled together, she always took team leader when it was girls against boys simply because she more than anybody wanted them to crumble. That, and she was pretty much born to be a leader anyway so the girls never said anything against it. Nikki, who was still getting used to the daily routine stayed quiet as the other girls kept on calling out 'Oh me, Oh me!'. Jen was wonderig which girl would be the most sneakiest when a girl named Emily spoke up.

"How about Nikki? This is her first time and the boys won't suspect her. And she's pretty sneaky too I guess." The shy girl said as she looked to the ground, obviously she wasn't the type to speak up when she had and idea. Nikki shrugged indifferently but a faint blush stained her cheeks as the eyes went to her, judging wether she'd make a good doctor for them.

"You know... That's not a bad idea Emily!" Jen cried but then quickly hushed as the heads turned towards them from the other team that was strategiesing on the other half of the gym. "Okay Nikki, this is what you do. If someone gets hit by one of those red balls they sit down. Now, the object of Dr.Dodgeball is that you have to try to find out who the Doctor is and get them out because the Doctor goes around touching the seated people and revives them so they could play. If the doctor is out then the other team can keep on getting the players and no one gets revived. that's why we need someone sneak like you." Jen grinned as she could just _taste _victory. "We'll have three decoy Doctors that will stick together and touch everybody at the same time and then break apart. The boys will know it's one of the four but they won't be able to tell who."

After more whispering, Mr.Gerret finally blew the whistle signaling the start of the game. Imediately the two teams picked up the red rubber balls and hauled them at the opposing enemy. The girls team stuck to the original strategy, making sure that Nikki was covered the whole time and that no one figured out she was the good ol' Doc. Nikki was beginning to feel a little crowded and desperately needed her personal space, so to her private relief the boys figured out who she was and the need for closure was gone. Soon her relief was followed by panic as 17 odd, hyperactive boys started to whip balls at her. She started to resemble a ballerina as she had to leap, duck and twirl to dodge those rampent blurs of red. Jen had gone into overdrive and that was probably why they won, because her aim got nearly everyone she wanted and through leadership skills she could only posses at that age, got the other girls pumped up aswell. That was the first time Nikki saw her friend being so intimidating and she sighed with relief, knowing that she was on her team so she wouldn't get the brunt of it.

"What craziness." she murmered to herself as she quickly tapped fallen girls over their shoulders to signify their 'revival' to the game. Truthfully there was no way she could get so worked up over such a pointless win. Who cares if we win or not?

Ah, as the game ended and the girls won, Nikki soon saw why as the battle of the genders came out full blow.

"We won fair and square!" Jen yelled to the chubby bully, which had gotten more than his fair share of beatings from Jen.

"No you didn't! You had more than one doctor!" He spat back and the girls 'Eewed!' and took a far step away from his spittle.

"In the game of war there is always one decoy you know!" Jen said in a matter-of-fact tone and she put her hand on her hips. The boy's eye's narrowed and stared her down.

"Girls don't belong in war anyway, or in sports or anything else!" he said and gave Jen a push and she stumbled down. Nikki and the other girls gasped, even the boys seemed a little taken back. "You are such a dolt Jen, you think you are allowed to do whatever you want. Well you know what. you're a he-she!" he yelled and folded his arms. Jen seemed at a loss for words, and started crying angry tears instead.

"No I'm not!" she nearly screamed and the boys started to snicker. A stab of pain hit Nikki as the familiarity of not being accepted snuck in through her stoic 'I don't care' barriers. Then she glanced around, where the heck was the teacher anyway?

"Hey bozo! she's not a he-she, she's a pretty girl that is nice and kind. Also, sports is for girls to so there!" Nikki cried out and helped Jen up. "You think you are all that George, picking on girls just becasue they are better than you. You arn't brave when you say those words, your a coward!" The boys stopped their snickering as they blinked at Nikki's tone. She was obviously not someone to mess with and right now she was mad. Also... they didn't know what a 'freak' would do to them if they started to argue.

George stomped his foot angrily. "A coward? I'm not afraid of freaks and wannabe's like you too. The thing is though, you all know I'm right when I saw you guys don't belong with normal people. She's not pretty and you wear too much makeup, got something to hide Nikki?" he asked and gave a sneer. Nikki held herself as she remembered to be calm. "I have nothing to hide, and I'm proud of who I am. So your words mean nothing to me." with that she took her sniffling friend to the locker rooms so that they could change in peace.

"They've been saying things like that forever!" Jen sniffled and Nikki gave her a tissue so that she could blow her nose while she try to hide the grimace that came with the disgusting sound. "My family teases me about it, the other kids do aswell... I'm sorry I got you into it, I wish I could be as confident as you."

Nikki smiled and offered to put Jens hair back into two pigtails that she had taken off for gym to put into a single ponytail. "It's not easy though, I know what it's like aswell. I'm a freak, that's what they call me, but I know that that's who I am and I'm proud of it. Being unique and different doesn't mean that you arn't as good of a person as anybody else right?" Jen nodded and gave Nikki the smile back when she was done styling her hair. "Good, now let's go out for recess and meet the boys, they are always fun to be with."

_At Recess_

"Okay, Jude has an annoucement for us today don't ya?" Wyatt said when they met at the field, sitting down on the grassy flooring. When Jude didn't speak up he gave him a sharp nudge.

"Ow! Okay okay Dude..." Nikki and Jen exchanged looks as he shyly looked to the floor. This wasn't the same kid who would greet them with a smile and a goffy saying. What was so wrong? Jude looked up at them with hesitation and then his eyes flickered for a second, caught between happy for a distraction and genuine worry. "Hey Jen, why are your eyes so puffy? Have you been crying?" he asked and frowned.

Jen had started to stumble and hastily rubbed her eyes. "No no, nothings wrong I guess I'm just-" Nikki sensed that Jen was going to lie so she interrupted her. "-That kid George had pushed her and called her some mean things. Dumb jerk." she said and earned a glare from Jen, who had obviously not wanted that little episode repeated to them.

Jude's eyes went wide and Wyatt looked disapprovingly at Jen's reluctance and that someone was bullying her. "Why wouldn't you tell us? George was in my class last year and he always picked on me. We're your friends and everything so we tell each other everything." Jen smiled and gave Wyatt a hug.

"Okay, but speaking of telling us everything... What was your little announcement?" she asked and Jude gulped, quickly tearing out of her hold. "Umm.. Well like, my birthday is coming up on Saturday and my mom said that you are all invited over for a house party and stuff like that." It was here he blushed a lot and took out the invitation cards from his pockets and handed them over to his friends.

"Judes embarrased about his family, really there is nothing wrong with them but he always gets like this when people are meeting them for the first time." Wyatt informed them as he opened his invite, a small card with a birthday cake and inside stated the time, date and address.

"So? My parents have the worst sense of humor and always embarrass me, trust me it's probably the same as your family." Nikki stated reassuringly. Jen just stayed quiet, looking over everything. She would definitaly go, but she just wondered what she should expect from people who left their son to do whatever he pleases and barely feed him. He didn't seem abused or anything but she had no way of knowing...

Saturday couldn't come slower. Jen had washed her hair and put it up in pigtails with her favourite sparkily golden bands with the red ornaments on them. She had a little yellow dress on with orange flower decorations that gave it more of a Sunday sundress appeal then anything formal. After all, this was a birthday party. She slipped on yellow sandals and packed a little blue bag of things she'd need. It seems that today she'd be staying the night over, almost like a slumber party but with boys aswell. She sat on her front porch as she waited for Nikki's parents to arrive in a black BMW as Nikki described. Her mother was away today and her sister couldn't take her because she had plans so she relied on her best friend to get there. Sure enough a black car pulled up at the turn of the street and Jen waved to them, signaling where she was. She got up and stood to greet her friend's family.

They pulled up at Jen's driveway and Nikki got out to give Jen a hug and introduce everyone. she was wearing her hair up into two oriental style buns that formed and interesting pattern with their wildly streaked purple hair She was wearing a balck dress with blue Kanji characters strewn wildly and she had her black alice slippers with the red and purple streaked stockings. Yup, even dressed beautifully Nikki was herself. Said Asian girl rolled her eyes as her parents gushed out of the car to throw compliments and embarress her.

"Oh! You must be Jen... Nikki's told us so much about how you've been kind to her, with her moving back here and being new and all.." Mrs.Wong said as she cooed over how pretty Jen looked in the sundress. Jen blushed and said a polite 'Thank you' and shook the hand Mr.Wong was holding out for her before they went inside the car. Nikki got into the backseat beside her and looked at the present she got for Jude.

"Do you think he'll like the T-shirt I erm, _customized _for him?" she asked and pulled out the homemade T-shirt and Jen couldn't help but stare. It was black and it had a collage of different skateboarding positions and writing here and there. The one message she giggled at was, "I may look like a cute kid, but inside me is a speed demon." In red Pooh writing. Nikki blushed when Jen complimented her on the sewn creation and told her that Jude would love it. "So where's your present Jen?' she asked and looked around her person to see where she could have stashed it.

Jen giggled, "It's in my bag, you'll see when we get there 'kay?" she said and changed the topic to what they'd do at the sleepover. They had talked about so many things that they didn't even noticed they arrived to a nice neighborhood and parked outside a big white house that had a beautiful wooden front porch decorated with plants..

"Kids, were here!" Mr.Wong called out from behind the wheel. The two girl hurried out the car. "Bye Mr. and Mrs.Wong! Thank you for driving me here!" "Bye mom, by dad, see ya tomorrow!" And then they ran up the stone steps to the door. Nikki pressed the doorbell and heard the echo of it from the inside. They waited paitiently as they heard a pair of footsteps approaching quickly.

There they saw Jude fling open the door, wearing an oversized navy blue T-shirt and black jeans. He was smiling and looked happy to see them, "Hey Jen, Hey Nikki!" he said in a chiper tone as he stepped back to let them in, opening the door even wider. The two girls hustled in and looked around. The place had nice furniture and each room was painted a different colour. The livingroom was huge and had an oak coffee table filled with snacks. The colour was a light green and the couches were yellow microfibre material. Plants were strewn around from the ceiling and on various corners and there was even a mini waterfall wall that was made out of crystal glass. There was a big banner in front of them with "Happy Birthday!" on it. The two girls gasped at everything, it was odd yet in an exotic way. They saw Wyatt who was wearing a yellow shit with green bugs and light blue jeans. He smiled and waved at them from the couch, eating munchies and pizza.

Gathering her wits as Jen continued to stare at everything Nikki turned to Jude and held out her birthday bag to him. "Happy Birthday Jude!" she said and he smiled. "Thanks Nikki!" He took the bag and put it on another table beside the 'water wall' that was littered with presents already. Jen snapped out of her momentary lapse and blushed.

She quickly took the present out of the bag, one a small box with a red ribbon and the other a card. "Hey Jude, Happy Birthday!" she said and gave him a hug when he turned around to thank her. Nikki giggled and Wyatt made a goofy face at Jude's blush. "Uh.. Thanks, I'll take that and we'll open the presents later." he said and gave a happy yet really goofy grin as he set the two items on the table.

"Honeybear I thought I heard the doorbell ring, are more of your friends here?" came a voice from behind them. Everyone turned and saw a woman with long blonde hair walk in to smile at them. Her voice was kind and soft and her face was oval shaped and fair. She had teal eyes and full pink lips, with a frame fit for a model. She was wearing a forest green shirt and a long sirt that was dark brown and crinkled in a fashionable way. Her blonde hair reached to her lower back and framed her face with the long bangs. Jen blinked but then smiled at the woman and Nikki in turn did the same. "Oh my what sweet young girls... I'm Jude's mother." she said bending down and putting her palms on her thighs while smiling at the two flabbergatsed girls. "I'm so glad you could come, I know Jude appreciates it very much, don't you dear?" she asked her son and he nodded back, a blush intact on his face.

She then turned around to look at Wyatt, who was blushing so much the he couldn't look at anybody in embarrassment and opted to look down at his hands. "Why hello young Wyatt, I hope you are comfortable?" she asked in a naturally sweet voice. At first Wyatt tried to say 'Yes' but only managed to stutter out nonsense, so he nodded his head vigerously and didn't dare meet her eye. Nikki had never seen Wyatt this way and looked to Jen to ask if this was normal with him. apparently not because Jen looked just as confused. They both looked at Jude he didn't seem to care as he played with the water flowing into the stone basin of the water wall.

"I'll go call your father to see when he'll be arriving, okay my precious gem?" Jude shrugged but smiled regardless. When his mother left he once again blushed. Nikki grinned at Wyatt slyly as he started to fidget.

"Why do I have the feeling Wyatt has a crush on Jude's mom?" asked Nikki teasingly as she watched Wyatt's blush grow. He opened his mouth for a retort but Nikki beat him to it, "Because after all, she is pretty and I bet she's sooooo nice to you!" she giggled and winked at the embarrassed child. She then looked over to the birthday kid to see if she weirded him out but as always he seemed happy and relaxed.

Jen got a party plate and filled it with some chips and goodies, not excluding the wonderful veggies and dip that laid partially neglected, before sitting down next to Wyatt on the couch. Nikki followed suite as they all munched on snacks going over the plan for today. Jude sat down on the bamboo chair opposite to the couch near a weird statue that resembled a sign of Zen. "Okay when I'm done greeting guests and all my cousins come we can play a few board games and things like charades. Then when my dad arrives we are going out bowling. That should take a while and we'll create teams and stuff so we get to have a small competition." he looked at Jen instinctively who had a big grin plastered on her face at the mention of competition. 'When we come back, the birthday cake and other stuff will happen and then we open presents. After hanging out and playing a few more games it will be time for the movie and we can watch in my room while we set up the sleepover thingy." he looked at them to see if there were any objections and found none. The doorbell then rang. "Oh, here comes my cousins now." he said and got up to greet his relatives.

His cousines were nice, one could say. Some of the boys were a bit lively but otherwise they were well mannered kids. They had been introduced to each other as everyone was getting their snacks and munchies. The oldest was Ben, who was a ten year old boy that looked the least like anybody from the Lizowski family at all. He had red hair and brown wide eyes that were hidden behind thick rimmed glasses. He was not really tall for a ten year old and he was the know-it-all type that used big words that really had no real meaning. The second oldest was Alice, who was a sweet girl but was too silly. She was nine years old and she acted like she was five! The youngest was a 6 year old boy who looked like Jude the most. He had blonde hair and green eyes that were wide like Jude's. Like his older cousin he was on the taller side of the family.

"Okay, so what should we play?" The birthday boy asked his friends and family as they made their way to another room in his spacious house. This room was almost like a separate entertainment center and more technological as opposed to the naturalistic livingroom they were just in. It had a big plasma t.v hanging off the wall and it with a metal pad for Dance Dance Revolution. The room was a burgendy brown that looked nice because of the different coloured wall lamps giving it a homey yet funky feel. There was a pool table on the left side of the room and in the middle was a small Japanese table and behind it small bean bag cushion that was used for sitting. There were many more electronics like PS2 and Xbox, and even a pin ball machine. The three friends looked in awe where as the relatives who were obviously used to such magnificence ran towards a certain wall.

"PIN THE TAIL ON THE DONKEY!" they cried. Nikki looked at Wyatt who shrugged, "That's what they play every year to begin the fun, it's a tradition. It also isn't your average paper on wall. If you get it on the horses.. bum." Jen giggled and Nikki rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh sush, if you get it there than it makes a 'Yehaw!' sound. If anywhere else, it goes 'YOWEEE!' It's actually really fun." he said with a smile as he walked over to the wall. The two girls followed.

It seemed to be a plastic pad with the picture of a donkey (obviously) on it withh a dessert background. Jude took the tail and a blindfold out of a box beside it. "Okay, we shall do ineey meeny miney mo between the six of you and that will determine who get's to go first. The rest will be alphabetical order and since I'm the birthday boy-"

"Birthday boy goes last!" Alice cried happily and Jude giggled. "Yup, what she said."

They did the little rhyme and Nikki, who never played the game before, was first. She took the tail by the back of the pin and freaked out a little when they put the blindfold on her, not that she's let it show. Like a blind person she stretched out one arm to feel around. The others were shouting "Left, no no right! There there! A little closer.." she pined it and nearly jumped out of her skin at the loud "YOWEEE!" she took the blindfold off and saw she was so close but she got it on the upper leg not the place she was supposed to.

"Aww it's okay Nikki! That was really good for your first try." Jude said. Regardless, said girl was beaming. "That was so much fun! I can't believe I never played that."

Birthday boy grinned. "Okay Alice, you're next!" The girl in the blue dress quickly put on the blindfold, making sure that her dirty blonde bangs were out of the way. She spun herself three times and wobbled over to the pad. Without feeling around, by pure chance she got it on the end on the donkeys bum. "YEHAW!" Came the loud response and the children cheered. Alice grinned happily and took off the blindfold. "Okay Ben, it's your turn!" The boy huffed and said, 'Oh this will be easy"

Without letting Jude help him with the blindfold, he quickly (yet sloppily) put it on himself. he spun around and simply tried to walk up to the pad and thought that if he did it like Alice did, then he'd get it aswell. He put the pin on and grimaced at the loud "YOWEEE!' The children giggled behind him and he took off the blindfold. It seemed that he got it on the donkey's eye. "Good try!" the others said between giggles and Ben just huffed again and put a nose up in the air, walking back.

Jen went next who allowed Jude to put the blindfold over her eyes. She felt him brush the bangs away from her eyes before he did that and giggled, "Hey, that tickled!" Alice nodded behind her, "Yup! It's funneh!" Jen spun around three times and tried to get a sense of what was straight. She felt around a bit, taking suggestions from the others behind her. she hesitated for a second and got confused at the mixed signals they were giving her so she just quickly pinned it on a random place. She was not surprised when the electronic donkey cried out "YOWEEE!" she took it off and giggled when she saw she got it on it's back. "Oh well, I tried." she said, not wanting to be a competitive spoil-sport on Jude's birthday.

The congradulated her and Wyatt was next. "Okay.." he said before Jude put on the blindfold for him. He spun around and walked at what he thought was straight before they called out "TURN AROUND!" just in time before he hit a speaker. He felt around again, feeling the texture of the plastic pad before going all the way left and brought it back a little more. He pressed the pin down and took a deep breathe. "YOWEEE!" Wyatt backed away and squealed at the sudden loudness. He took the blindfold off and saw he was soo close, just a little more up and a little more right and he would have gotten it.

Zeek, who was the six year old cousin went next. Jude had kindly brought the pad down lower for him so that he could reach the donkey everywhere and be given a fair chance. He spun around giggling and then wobbled over, quickly pressing the pin on what he thought was the end of the donkey's bum. He was right, and gave a cheer when he heard the loud "YEEHAW!" The girls gave him a hug at the irresistibly cute smile he gave them when he took the blindfold off. The boys cheered and gave him a pat on the back. Since he was the youngest they were making sure he felt welcome amongst the group of older children.

Jude went next and it seemed with years of playing this game he developed a strategy that made him win. He just walked up to the plastic cover blidfolded, and pinned the tail in the donkey. A loud "YEEHAW!" came and Jude smiled as the kids cheered extra loud for him, clapping. He took off the blindfold and turned to face them.

"Okay! Since Zeek got it this time and he's the youngest bro, he gets to pick what game we play next." Zeek looked around the room and put a small hand to his chin. "Hmm.. How about that metal thingy over there?" he pointed to the metal pad hooked up to the t.v's system. Jude grinned and Alice gave an aproving nodd. "Dance Dance Revolution it is!"

Jude went through the instructions and Nikki grinned. She had definitely played this game and was ready to school all of them in it. Wyatt shrugged, knowing that he wasn't the best in it but smiled because it was a lot of fun. "okay, who goes with who?" Birthday boy asked them. Before anyone could even ponder over who to go with Ben suddenly cried out, "I want to go with Jen." he stated, not meeting the girls questioning eyes. Jude smirked and waggled his eyebrows at his older cousin. Alice immedietly launched herself onto Nikki's arm. "Then I go with her!" Nikki grinned and nodded to the excited girl.

"Alright, Wyatt can you go with Zeek then?" Jude asked and Wyatt nodded and gave the kid a high five.

"But what about you?" asked Jen and Ben snorted lightly.

"Aw don't worry, I get to go with everybody and the winner gets to have a real face off with me." Jude said, but not smugly at all. He had a twinkle in his big blue eyes and his relaxed smile in place. Ben rolled his eyes carelessly.

"Jude is the master at this game, that's why we face him off." Ben said and Jude stuck his tongue out at him. "It's only because he practices so much."

"Well prepared to be de-throned Jude, because everywhere I go I kick butt at this game." said Nikki with a competitive wink. Jude smirked and nodded to his confident friend.

"Well alright dude!" he said with a laugh, "Let's get this hooked up then." He turned on the game and the big Sony screen turned on and a blast of J-pop music assaulted their senses and pretty coloured lights blasted into their eye sockets. "Okay, since Nikki's so confident she and Alice can go first." the two nodded and hopped up onto the metallic pad. After Jude ajusted it, they started with the arrows and quickly started to 'Dance'. Well, it looked funny from the back where it looked like they were stomping on ants at a syncronized pace. But soon as the arrows got more twisted and difficult Nikki was riding the waves solo as Alice promptly messed up on them. Thus Nikki was the winner.

"See, told ya I'm good." The others smiled at her confidence and Alice winked and stuck out her tongue. "Oh you're good alright but watch out, I'll get better."

Wyatt and Zeek volunteered to go next. Wyatt was so bad and since he obviously knew Zeek, he wasn't surprised at how good the kid was. Only Jen and Nikki seemed a bit shocked at how professional the kid was. Left, right, up up, down, right; this kid was good! When it ended the two surprised girls cheered to teh kid who beemed happily. Wyatt gave a laugh and ruffled the six year old's hair. "Beat me again eh? Next time I'll get you." The kid gave a doubtful look and everybody laughed.

"Alright, Jen and Ben-hey that rhymes! You guys go next." (I actually just reliesed that, honest. ) Jen gave a raised eyebrow and Jude laughed, "Okay okay, guy and girl, you're next." Jen hopped on and waited for it to start. Ben took off his glasses, looking better without them and a bit older than the eight year old persona he had with them on, gave them over to Alice and hopped on aswell.

"I've never actually played this game." Said Jen as she looked down at the arrows. She hated to lose, and she was up against an experienced ten year old. The two digits! He was WAY older than her and she would probably get embarrassed and look silly.

"It's okay Jen, just have fun and try your best! You take gymnastics and tennis right? Well that has a lot of footwork so you'll be fine." Jude said encouragingly. Jen nodded and he started it for them.

Jen was tripping over her feet in an attempt to get all the arrows and ben was taking it smoothly. She had missed an arrow and to her surprise Ben quickly put his foot over to her left square so that she could continue. Pretty soon, as Jude predicted she was getting better because of the footwork she had grown accustumed to. Ben and Jen were going in sync and by the time it ended, Jen won. Though what Ben wouldn't tell her was that he let her win.

"Alright Jen! You were good for your first time." said Nikki said and gave her best friend a hug. Zeek looked confused for a second and before he opened his big mouth to tell her that Ben lost on purpose the oldest cousin clamped a hand over his mouth.

Jude grinned. "Okay my turn. Zeek, Jen and then Nikki go against me since they won. So let's go Zeek." he said and the two got on. Jude turned it on and he quickly started to get the arrows right. He put it up on the hardest level and the arrows seemed to come at them all at once. The relaxed stance still in place, Jude quickly started to move his feet. Nikki's mouth dropped open and she quickly took her words back as the skater boy was hitting the highest score. Zeek sighed as he missed two or three arrows and didn't manage the perfect that his cousin was getting. When it ended Zeek hopped off and let Jen replace him.

They smiled at each other in good sportsmanship and Jude gave her a nod, "Don't worry Jen, you can school me in bowling when this is done." he said encouragingly and Jen giggled, "You bet I will!' she challenged and waited for the onslaught of arrows. They came harder than before and Jen tried desperately to copy his moves. She managed a good but the king of games still hit all around perfects. Jen knew she wouldn't beat him, so she continued to have fun trying her best. The scores popped up and once again, Jude won.

"Wow, you really are good Jude!" Looking at the score board Jude smirked casually, "Not good Jen.. Perfect. You're the one that's good. see you got a B, not bad." she smiled and gave Nikki a thumbs up. "Do me a favour and blast this guys cool mojo for me." Nikki nodded and hopped on when Jen got off.

"Let's do this." she said and they gave each other a nod. Jude turned the switch on and they started to dance. Jude was definitaly perfect, but Nikki was just as good. They even started to do do little stlyes and grooves to outmatch each other. Nikki crouched low and put her hands on the up and down arrow, kicking her left foot up while the other stayed on the right square. the children 'oohed' and 'ahhed' as Jen cheered for her friend. Jude, still relaxed as ever, took no threat to this and he looked uo at the arrows. he smirked, seeing a perfect combo for his next move.

Surprising everybody the x-treme sportest broke dance on the pad crazily, twisting on his right hand in a sideways handstand as his mid-air legs clicked together in a bent postition before he hopped up of his hand and let his feet fall onto the apropriate squares. Nikki stared in awe as she tried to keep up with the fast paced arrows. Jude had crouched down like she did moments before and started to break dance on the squares. There wasn't a mouth shut closed in that room as all their eyes widened. Not only did he continue his perfect streak he did it in style with breaking only a minimal amount of sweat. The king was so not de-throned.

The kids cheered and hugged the semi sticky boy and Jen pouted cutely. "Well.. Me and Nikki will beat you in bowling." Nikki clapped him on the back and nodded, "Yup and YOU have to teach me those wicked moves sometime." Jude grinned and nodded.

"Jude sweety!" his mothers dreamy voice called from the other room, "Your father is here to take you to Planet Bowl!" Once again, the sugar pumped kids jumped up and down happily. Jude smiled at the mention of his dad. Fanning out his shirt, reliesing he worked up a bit of a sweat he called out to his mom.

"Tell him to wait in the van for a bit! I'm just gonna go to the washroom!" he said and excused himself from his friends as he went out the room, telling them to wait there.

"Since when did Jude care that he was sticky and sweaty and stinky?" asked Nikki wrinkling her nose slightly. Wyatt and the cousins looked at each other.

"Jude's dad is a great guy and all, but he's majorly strict about how Jude is presentable infront of others. He'd get a scolding for being all sweaty like that." Ben said with a shrug. Wyatt saw the glances cast between the girls and quickly waved his hands. "Oh don't worry, he's REALLY nice and funny! He's like an average dad." he said and the girls shrugged, but looked down at themselves. Jen was okay, she was the cute happy girl in her sundress that any parent would coo over. Nikki was a bit more nervous, she had the whole 'outcast' look and probably wasn't presentable at all! Bitting her lip in worry she told herself she'd just have to take anything that was thrown at her.

Jude came back refreshed and ready. It seemed all he did was air out his shirt and was his face and neck. His mother had caught him coming back and dabbed some rose lotion on his neck, face and hands so he had good luck. The boys thought that it was funney but refrained from calling him girly. Jen had admitted she liked it and Jude asked his mom to give her some. She got some lavender one dabbed behind her neck and hands while the rose one she liked was dabbed on her cheeks. Mrs.Lizowski smiled at the cute girl and told her to run along with the others to the van.

Jude was waiting for her like a good party host would. She walked out into the sun, bringing her blue bag with her. Her socks were inside for the bowling shoes and some extra cash incase she wanted to play at the arcade that was there. Jude's father came in veiw as he was helping the children get in, smiling at them and talking a bit. He was a tall man with black hair with the same shape and volume Jude's had and he was wearing an average attire. He was the buisness man type, one could easily see but in his red t-shirt and men's navy jeans he looked like that 'great guy' Ben was telling them about. Jude ran up to his dad and gave him a hug.

"Hey son, Happy Birthday. Sorry I couldn't make it earlier, the stocks were rising and falling so we had to make a stable plan before I could leave work." he said and ruffled Jude's blonde hair. The nine year old boy giggled and pulled Jen's hand so that she could come over.

"This is my friend Jen." he said and Jen waved to his father sheepishly. The father laughed at how these girls that Jude picked up seemed to be so shy around him.

"Don't worry, I'm not as mean as you would think. It's nice to meet you Jen and I hope you have fun." Jen nodded happily and got inside the dark blue van who was quickly followed by Jude. It seemed that the two had to sit in the back where an extra seat was in the empty trunk. They were pretty much riding with their backs to everybody watching the cars behin the van from the trunks window. (It's fun, I do that even if the regular seats are empty.) They turned themselves around to be able to partake in the conversation happening infront of them.

The car started and they headed towards the infamous Planet Bowl where they would be doing the glow-in-the-dark bowling by request. "I'm okay at bowling, though usually I get a gutterball instead of a strike." Nikki said to Alice sitting beside her with Zeek. Ben was riding solo up front where he was happiest beside Jude's dad.

"I'm not good at all. I always get a gutterball no matter what. Only once did I ever get a pin down." Alice said with a sigh and looked at her brother Zeek. "He's okay but the ball usually slips." she said on his behalf. "Ben is actually really good at bowling and he's able to get a strike in two turns."

Jen smirked and bit her lip from giggling. Jude leaned his chin against the soft materaial of the seat infront of him. "I'm good too, but I don't get strikes all the time." Nikki tilted her head back to look at Jen.

"What about you?" she asked noticing the happy smirk that was Jen's signature expression when she was confident. "You seem like you know you're better than all of us." she said but not in an accusing manner, it was actually more like a question in the tone.

"Oh I'm not better than anyone, you guys are all probably great and don't give yourselves enough credit. I'm just happy to bowl because I'm pretty great at it." she said with a smile. The car came to a bump and the two J's fell back against the car's floor and laughed.

Finally they had arrived after half an hour of singing, "This is the song that never ends!" The car was parked and it was already 6:00, since the party had started at five and time was going by real fast. The children got out quickly and took eachother's hands when crossing over the parkinglot. Mr.Lizowski hurried with them and they crossed safely. Entering the building with the neon pins and bowling balls, their eyes took in the luminescent lights and the glow-in the dark theme. They made their way to the shoe exchange person, Jude's dad stating the reservation birthday party stuff and how long they'd be here.

The children took their shoes off and exchanged them for a pair of bowling shoes, quickly slipping them off and reserved alley. Mr.Lizowski sat down at the mini computer they had and started writing in the names. Glancing over to the children waiting patiently he chuckled, "Okay so who's on team 'A' and who's on team 'B', wait I think I know the answer to that. Alice you always take team A and Ben team B right? Zeek you always go with Ben so you are in team B aswell." The three cousins smiled at their uncle, he seemed to know them well enough. Especially because that was how it went Every. Single.Time.

After talking it out Jen ended up on team B, Wyatt did too. Nikki and Jude had joined Alice in team A and the game commenced.

It had started out very simple, Zeek would go and get a few gutterballs than Alice would do the same. Wyatt went next and did fairly well, knocking a few pins down here and there. Nikki went and got a strike in two turns giving team A a lead. Ben huffed and waggled his eyebrows before rolling the bowling ball towards the pins and in two tries he too got a strike. Jude went next and rolled the ball forward managing to get six pins in his try. Jen moved up to the lane and smiled, holding her small blue bowling ball with confidence. Rolling her ball with force down the middle she managed to get a strike in one shot.

Ben looked a little miffed that his torch had been put out by a girl but said nothing. The others congradulated her and Alice complained that she should have been on her team. They played some more before they got thrirsy and each got a soft pretzal and drinks. They all settled on coke even the health concious Jen--after all it was Jude's B-day.

It apears Team B won, Jen having the highest score tieing with Ben and Jude and Nikki tied for second. The glow in the dark theme and techno music had made the party a great experience and they got some time at the arcade. Jen had lost poorly to Nikki and got the lowest score in contrast to the highest one she recieved earlier. This lightened Ben up considerably and Nikki was the one to actually see that.

"What's up with Ben?" she asked Wyatt as they were battling it out over a space game.

"Oh you noticed that too? He's about as competitive as Jen is so being shown up by a girl is upsetting for him." Wyatt answered and smiled whne he beat Nikki by 500 points.

"Rematch?" Nikki asked and Wyatt nodded, "You're on."

The kids made their way back and the time they had spent flew by. It was already eight and the kids had played pool and slurped on icecream sundaes. In order to still make it for cake they went home and continued their previous song of "This is the song that never ends!"

_At the house_

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Jude.. Happy Birthday to you!" Jude smiled and blew out the candles after they sang the birthday song. When he managed to blow out all the candles everyone cheered. His mother plucked out candles and took a wet knife, starting to cut the cake into sqaures. Since Jude loved chocolate, they had a triple chocolate icecream cake. They all got a slice and sat down eating happily as Nikki and Alice talked about DDR, Jude and Ben having a fork competition and Jen and Wyatt talking in hushed tones.

"You know what, I just don't get it..."

Wyatt looked at the girl who was now mushing her icecream cake all over her paper plate. A little confused Wyatt asked Jen, "Get what? The cake? It's icecream cake, it's supposed to melt like that..."

"No no no! Not the cake!" Jen whispered back in a rushed voice. She looked at Jude for a moment before looking back to Wyatt. "It's about his family... I don't get it. They're rich and happy, really nice and look like they baby Jude! Why would they send their ownkid with no money and let him go to the mall by himself?" she asked with her eyebrows low and her pouty lips pursed in with thought. Relisation stuck the nine year old boy as he sipped his soda in thought.

"You know, I know what you're thinking. You thought Jude was either poor or being mistreated didn't you? Well as you can see he's not. It's just that his family is a bit weird... Like, his dad is too busy to be around and his mother is a hippy. She thinks her child can be out in the world as a baby cub running free or something like that. Oh, and she does make breakfast but..." Wyatt wrinkled his nose in disgust. "It's all natural... Jude refuses to eat it and waits for lunch to be fed."

Jen blinked, then blinked some more. "That's _it_!" she said a pitch higher than normal and her volume going up a bit. "I was worried over _that_, he just didn't want to eat breakfast and his mom has no real rules! Didn't it ever occur to him to just get some money?"

"What are ya guys talkin about?" asked Jude as everybody could now here the shrill whisper from Jen. Blushing she shook her head as Wyatt calmly ate his cake.

"Nothing nothing! I'll tell you later 'kay?" Jen said as she felt the eyes on her. Woah, temper check... With a small inhale she smiled and ate her cake aswell. Shrugging they went back to their conversations. Nikki leaned in closer to the now cheerful brunette and whispered urgently in her ear.

"You're so gunna tell me later right?"

"Totally."

It was presant time! That was the last thing they would do for the day before the cousins had to go and the overnite party could begin for the four friends. They sat down in a bean bag circle next to the waterfall that had some sort ofzen rug that the presents were put on for Jude to open. He sat down in the center with the presents as the all watched him open them eagerly.

"Okay my awsome friends! Let's open up the first present which is from... Wyatt!" He took out a nicely wrapped box that was really big and a total eye-catcher. Smiling wide she ripped the white birthday themed wrappings and his eyes danced across the cover of the box. "Wow! A racecar set! Thanks Wyatt, so you were listening when I told you I wanted this on that commercial we saw... Or was it on a billboard ad?" Jude asked in thought. His answer was a giddy laugh from his best friend.

"Open ours next!" Alice said and Jude happily obliged. It turned out to be a kareoke machine and all the kids gushed over it. It seemed that Jude's cousins were pretty wealthy themselves. Though according to Nikki's interrogational skills they weren't nearly as successful as Jude's family.

Nikki had embarassedly given him her handmade shirt design.

"It's nothing much, but I spent a lot of time on it and was thinking about you when I made it... If you don't like it then you always have that gift card in the birthday card to umm... You know get another one and-"

"What are you talking about my talented friend? I love it! Wow Nikki, I don't have a shirt as cool as this and I'm so honoured that you spent the time and effort to make this for me. Thanks." he said and gave the insecure girl a hug. She blushed and whispered a 'your welcome' before regaining her spunk and giving him a nuggie over the head, messing up his blonde hair.

Jen smiled and took out her present from her blue travel bag. In her hands was a small black box and an evelope. She gave it to Jude with a giggle as he took it from her and preformed the goofy face. With his tongue just peeking out of the corner of his mouth as his eyes screwed up in front of him to peek inside the tiny silver ribbon box. He smiled wide and held out the silver chain necklace with 'Jude' etched on a skateboard figure.

"Open the birthday card" Jen said as Jude was about to say thank you for his gift. Nodding his head he opened the envelope and took out the card. Inside were two tickets and confused, he read the birthday card message outloud.

"Dear Jude, hope you have a happy year and emjoy being nine. To make it more enjoyable, I bought two tickets for you and me to go watch the x-treme sports convention next Saturday. P.S: bring your Skateboard and bathing suite!--♥Jen ♥" Judes eyes widened and a big grin was placed on his face. "Aww thanks Jen!" Jen smiled back and stuck her tongue out at the boy.

"No problem, just no teasing me about how I'm still eight kay?"

"Can do dude!"

_------------------------------------------------ _

_Creeping silently into the dark halls a cackle is heard from below in teh basement..._

_"Wh-who's there?" asked a teenaged red head as she slowly crept down the stairs. A light huff was heard and the cackling was heard. Without a flashlight or anything at all, the girl tried to peer inside the pitch black basement. "Hello? Micheal if that's you..." She took a step inside the darkness..._

"No you dummy! Don't go inside! Go back, go back!" Jen stuttered as she took a bunch of popcorn and stuffed it into her mouth, eyes bulging wide and fixed onto the screen.

"What are you doing without a flashlight are you mad! That could be a bad stranger and you wouldn't even know!" Nikki cried, grabbing onto Jen's arm as the eight year old girl started to panic. "STOP THE MADNESS!" Nikki cried out and the two girls huddled together in fear...

_"MWUAHAHAAHHAHAHHA!" SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMM!_

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" The two girls screamed along with the latest boogey-monster victim and hugged each other, closing their eyes tight against the horrifying image.

Wyatt hid under Jude's covers and pulled the girls under, as if he was afraid that the t.v monster would pop up and eat them right then and there. Jude poked in after then as they all huddled together and shivered from the newly evoked fear. They paused for awhile undeaneath the white comforter before Jude, the brave one peeked out.

"I think it's safe..." he said and Wyatt looked out along with him. "Yeah... It's okay now."

The movie ended and the four fell back against Jude's bed in relief. The boogey-man horror movie that Jude had insisted they watch scared the heck out of the poor youngsters. Staring wide up at teh ceiling the two girls knew they'd have nightmares.

"Well.. I guess it's time for sleep?" asked Wyatt and looked at the birthday boy who had a happy grin on his face.

"Yup! That movie was awsome! Well, goodnight everybody!" he said as the three friends got off the bed to go into their own spleeping bags. Getting snigged in tight as Jude walked over to turn off the lightswitch, they each gulped and answered back...

"...Goodnight."

The lights went off.

There was no sound...

"Psst... Jen?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared."

"Me too."

"Can I come over to your sleeping bag?"

"Yup!"

_Shift, ruffle, zip_

"Uh.. Jen?"

"What is it Wyatt?"

"Can I come too?"

"Yeah, I have room..."

_Shift ruffle zip_

"Nikki?"

"What's the matter Jen?"

"...I'm still scared."

_SNORE_

"Ahhh!"

"Shhh! You'll wake Jude up Wyatt!"

"Oh, that was him?"

"Yes."

"Sorry Nikki."

"Oh my gosh we are sleeping right beside the plece underneath Jude's bed, on the floor! The boogey-man comes right out from there!"

"Jen's right! What are we going to do?"

_Shift ruffle zip_

"Jude?" all three asked as they held their stufed animals tightly. Jude woke up to see his friends peering anxiously over to him and his queen sized bed.

"Yeah?" he asked getting up slightly. Jen blushed and held her "Curious Goerge" stuffed toy close to her frame in fear.

"Can we sleep with you tonight?" she asked with a pout and Nikki nodded, joining in with the puppy dog face they were all giving him. He laughed and nodded before yawning. Smiling, they all crawled under the cover as Jude shifted more near to the wall.

"Goodnight!"

"'Night"

Then they fell fast asleep...

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AN: Now I know all of you are thinking, "What was all this about! Where the heck is Jonesy?" oh.. He's here alright, I just need to dedicate a chapter totally to him and I wanted to get out what's up with Jude's family before that. I thought this chapter was cute even though it's really long and pointless. R&R please! Next chapter will be up really soon since I fixed the problem with my computer!


	6. Jonesy and the Mischevious Duo

"That party was the best! I mean, I thought I was going to have to go through a pity thing because he was poor or something but really he's rich? Anyway, he is so teaching me DDR moves!" Nikki said as they walked along the stores looking for something amusing.

"You thought that too? Good, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!" Said Jen as relief flooded her features. The two had decided to spend time together at the mall without the boys today. Jude wasn't coming today since it was the day after his birthday and his mother was taking him on 'inner self' journy in the nature. Nikki had just gave it the term "Crazy Camping" since they were most likely going to be meditating and lighting candles and stuff... Though if he thought his parents were weird, he never met the Wongs.

"Oh look Nikki! This would look so nice on you! Why don' you try it on?" Mrs.Wong cooed as Nikki wrinkled her nose at the blue girly dress her mother was pointing too. What self consious person would dare where that? It was so... Frilly. The baby blue was so fuzzy that Nikki wanted to recoil just at the thought of wearing it. All, "I'm a bad-ass stubborn punk" stuff aside, that dress was UGLY!

Ths was insane, how could she have agreed to invite one of her friends to shopping with her parents? It had been this way ever since Nikki was born. Her parents would coddle and embarrass her to no end. Not only that, but their style sense seemed to be very backwards, as they were wearing retro 50's clothing. Her parents weren't even born in the fifties! She didn't want to spend the day boring herself and her best friend, so she decided to ditch them.

Nikki quickly grabbed Jen's hand and rolled her eyes, "Let's go into the arcade and hope we lose my parents." Nikki said as she started to drag her confused friend towards the arcade while her parents were looking at more puke-tastic outfits for her.

"But we're supposed to be here with your parents! My mom wouldn't let me go unsupervised and someone could kindnap us or we'll get lost or-"

"Oh shush, it's okay. We'll be fine I promise." Nikki said as they headed down the escalator giggling. Oh weren't they being bad little girls! Nikki knew her parents would be super worried, but she didn't care and as Jen started to loosen up more, she actually thought this was kinda fun. If there was one thing the girls had in common then it would be definitely their amusement for pranking. When they reached the bottom they made a mad dash towards a random store. It was a clothing store but whatever, they could hide for now.

"Oh my gosh, I can' believe we did that! Your mom and dad will be so mad!" Jen said in a hushed tone but giggled nonetheless. The two children were hiding in a clothing rack and peeking through the gaps of linin and long skirts. Nikki giggled aswell blushing as a small snort came out. This made the two girls laugh harder as they quickly covered their mouths to stifle the noise.

"I-I know, d-don't" she laughed again barely able to make out the sentence. "-worry, it-it'll be allright! I'll take the blame and besides, my parents let go of things easily." Now calm, the two relaxed as they watched the outside world for awhile, making fun of and scaring a few costumers that walked by browsing.

The two were wondering about going somewhere else as suddenly they heard the clothes shuffle behind them. Their heads spun around to look at the intruder to their little hide-away, pressing their backs against the layers of hanging clothing as two hands roughly pulled aside the material.

"I knew there was some spoiled brats hiding in here!" Cried the red-head worker as she glared down at the two frightened girls. Well, actually they were more in a shocked stupor than frightened. Heck, the only thing frightening was those god awful khakis and pepto-bismol baby tee. The teenaged employee looked about ready to shove the two out so Jen and Nikki quickly ran out themselves.

"Like Brandy what's going on?" Asked another worker. Again the two girls gasped as out came another girl clone, except this one was blonde. Seriously, aside from eye and hair colour they looked like twins.

"Hey Bianca, these two were hiding in the delicates rack where we keep all our silk dresses!" The red-head named Brandy pointed at the disheveled clothes hanging off the metal bars.

Scary... The two clones stared at the terrified two eight year old girls and they snorted and laughed together like evil little witches. The third one came out, a brunette that once again, looked exactly like the other two. There whole persona screamed "Fashion Follower!" as neither one was unique in any sense.

"What's going on here?" She demanded, obviously something like the store manager around here. Her eyes bore holes into them as she glared. The other two clones had stopped laughing to continue their rampage of accusations.

"Brenda! They were ruining our wonderful clothes!" Bianca said dramatically as she rudely pointed a finger to Nikki and Jen.

"Those twits messed up our alphabetical fabric selection too!" Said the other evil one, Brandy. That was when their leader Brenda put her hands on her hips, stalking over the two and casting over an eeiry shadow. The other two mimicked her actions as the three towered over Nikki and Jen and they started their freaky lines.

"Like, get out you twits"

"Before we like,"

"Call mall security, yeah"

Each one echoed and Nikki blinked as Jen raised her eyebrows. "Oh-Oh okay. Sorry" Jen muttered and pulled Nikki by the hand outside the materialized domain the three hags had control over. "Didn't mean to cause trouble!" She yelled back as they sprinted out and sat down next to the bench that had the photo booth and vase next to it.

"Did you see that place? What a nightmare! That place was full of those 'in' clothes and there was sooo much Khaki!" Nikki complained and shuddered. Her eyes went over to the store they were previously in and her eyes squinted to look at the sign and name. "Khaki Barn? Oh, should have known"

Remember about the whole bit where Jen wasn't as mature as Nikki was? Well, for her that type of clothing stanza, labelling and getting the feel of what was her style wasn't really there yet. The only thing that she kept in mind when looking at clothes was this looked nice and pretty, while this doesn't. She was only eight, after all. "The khaki looked nice though... But those three girls scared me!" Jen said with a shudder as she remembered their identical faces, with their identical uniforms... It was like robots had taken over in a Valley Girl type of way.

Nikki snorted and folded her arms, "Oh well, just know that when I grow up I want to be nothing like them. I would never allow myself to work in that store. Ever."

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The day drilled on as they pranked various store owners and solicited everywhere they went by taking their time. They laughed and had fun together, so much that they forgot about Nikki's grieving parents. As they were sitting down at a bench just kicking their feet, they were once again surprised from behind.

"What are you kids doing here alone?" Said an accented male voice, almost like that of a veteran or something. They turned there heads and stiffened when they saw a security cop staring down at them. The guy must have been in his mid-thirties, possibly even late from the lightness and light brown patches on the side his head. He had a strong chin that was set in an unattractive hard look as his eyes held a 'no nonsense' gleam.

"Um... W-we're ah-" Jen started but was harshly cut off.

"Not a peep from you! This mall is under kinder code 12, there has been enough trouble with you punks so I will be forced to take you away." The security guard said and Jen turned pale. Nikki on the other hand, burst out.

"Taking us away? Where? Who are you anyway! Ahhh!" Nikki threw out at the guy and he hushed her.

"Who am I? I'm Ron, Ron from the Rent-a-cop. You girls will be taken to the lost and found children's section near my office, where I can keep a close eye on you. Come on, get up soldiers!" The two girls stood up quickly with panicked expressions as the were marched over to the place as if they were fugitives in a kiddy boot camp. There in front of a door with a scary looking smiley face (like it was looking at you in an evil sense saying, "Come in... Come in...") and Ron fumbled around with his many keys. He then opened the door but didn't exactly step inside or let the girls in, poking a head in and checking the room as if he was afraid it was rigged with bombs or something. Definitely paranoid, this one...

"Finally!" Came a kid's voice from inside. "I thought you were going to leave me here to die!"

"Silence child, you're serving your time... Peeking inside woman's change rooms was a very bad thing to do indeed. Where's your honour maggot?" Said Ron the Rent-a-cop inside to the brightened and eerily white room and the two girls exchanged a look.

"I was curious!" was the abashed reply "I just wanted to see what was so special underneath those skirts anyway... I didn't see much I swear!" With a disgusted shake of his head, the cop let the two girls in.

"Stay in here until I round up some more kids and then I'll make the announcement for your parents to come here for you." he said and shut the door, locking it so there was no way out. It gave the children an acute sense of claustrophobia as they looked around the small, windowless white room. All there was, was a few white chairs. No windows, no toys, no nothing.

Nikki was breathing heavily, scared now. She turned around to look at their other 'inmate' and she felt her heart nearly stop.

There, slumped against the chair was none other than Jonesy Garcia. The black haired Latin childhood friend of her's. She gulped as she felt her throat constrict slightly and go sore. He raised his eyes to look back at her and was shocked aswell. Then, a small grin formed on his pouty lips as he stared back at her interestingly and casually at the same time.

"Is that you Nikki? Wow, we haven't like seen each other in about what, three years?" He asked and got up. He was wearing a white loose T-shirt with a red hemline across the collar and sleeves. Then as always he was wearing his jeans that unlike most boys, did not fall baggy but would fit nicely on him. He gave his friend a cute smile and she smiled back.

Jen looked blankly between the two and you could almost see the question marks popping out of her head. Snapping out of her stupor, Nikki nodded. "Yup, that's me good old buddy. Moving back to China was fun but I missed you Jonesy." she said casually, as friends usually do when talking about this kind of stuff. Funally adressing Jen she smiled and raised a hand to point at Jonesy.

"Jen this is Jonesy, he was my best friend since we were in the playpen." she then pointed a hand back to Jen, "And Jonesy, this is Jen. She's my best friend from when we moved back here." Jonesy had gotten up, wearing a grin that was cute yet not the same as when Jude or Wyatt would smile. In fact, it almost had a personal trademark of it's own.

"Yo signorina! Nice to meet you!" he said and politely extended a hand. Jen shook his hand and gave a "You too" back. Nikki grinned and then quickly started with the bombard of questions.

"So you learned Spanish finally huh? What was Spain like? Did you meet people? What's new?" She asked all together, leaving the poor boy blinking and wondering where to start first. He scratched his head for a second, wondering what might be news to his old friend. With a shrug of his shoulders and the trademark grin, he finally answered.

"Well Spanish was easy when like, NOBODY knew how to speak English well...Though I messed up alot." It was like going in flashback mode as he remembered being told by his older cousin to say to a pregnant lady, 'Gee miss, did you eat a lot or are you naturally fat?' That, of course, was not a pleasant experience. "And Spain was cool, the weather was nice and I played floor hockey with some boys who wanted to learn." Thinking to himself with a grin and a blush he said, "I also met tons of people" Like those flamingo dancers... They were so nice to me...

By then Nikki was snapping her fingers in front his face to wake him up. Startled he finally remembered the most important thing. "Oh! Also I'm a big brother now!" Nikki was genuinely surprised and gave him a hug. "Congrats Jonesy! Wow, is it a brother or a sister?" she asked releasing him from her grip.

He gave that toothy grin again as he smirked at her mistake. "They are two brothers all right. One just a baby and the other two years old." He noticed the surprise and relished in it. How he loved being in the center of attention.

Soon all three were engaged in a fleeting conversation, mostly questions from Jen and Nikki. Jen, who didn't know Jonesy very well was starting to get a good idea of what type of person he was. She thought he was quite funny and interesting, also he was Nikki's best friend so Jen's loyalty prevailed and she wanted to be as much involved as possible. The same went for Jonesy, who sympathized with Jen's divorce saying that if that happened to his parent he wouldn't know what to do. He was a big brother and all so it was his duty to make sure that they had a stable family. Nikki was happy to say in the least, he excitement clearly shown on her face. This was her childhood best friend and she started making plans for them to see each other right off the bat. She was trying hard not to neglect her new friend from them, but she got carried away at times.

Regardless, Jen assured her it was okay while Jonesy said she and any other of Nikki's friends would be cool to hang around with. He even went to the same school as them and although he didn't know it yet, he was in the same class as Jude and Wyatt.

So wrapped up in their conversation, all three jumped when the door burst open and in came two pairs of parent. One was the Wongs and the other the Garcias. they rushed over to the children they were responsible for, immediately scolding them and offering promise of punishment to each one. Except for Jen of course since Nikki took all the blame casually and the Wongs couldn't do anything but tell Jen's mother of what had happened. Ron the Rent-a-Cop was certainly gleeful to tell his part of the mischief the kids had caused.

Neither one looking the least bit guilty as the parents had finally acknowledged each other and they began their adult family friends bonding. The woman exchanged gasps and squeals at seeing each other and talked about new news in rushed tones. The men exchanged casual greetings and a pleasant handshake, talking in indifferent voices about how much time had been spent apart and all that manly pride talk. It was a comical sight for Jen as she smirked, trying not to laugh at the two different scenes. As for Nikki and Jonesy, they rolled their eyes and exchanged a familiar look.

Parents... They are so annoying.

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Don't kill me...

Wow, when I saw I got reviews by my e-mail alert thingy that weird yahoo or something popped up in my head saying, "You-got-reviews!" So... While I was running away from an angry mob and sobbing at how uselessly long that last chapter was, yet still feeling fuzzy from all the compliments (You guys are so getting a mega glomp from me! One of these days.. Let meh just stop running) I wrote this with Jonesy! Yay! Now stop chasing meh! . Thank you

And SORRY for the lack of quality in thus one, I guess I'm trying to rush to the good stuff. FINALLY things can get going and yes sniff This is the last time we see them as eight year olds... Excpect funny things and fluff in the future. XD


	7. So many things changing

Ooc: I wanted to start off by saying sorry, I didn't relise some people were confused about the age shifts. From now on I'm going to put how old they are at the beginning of

each chapter so people rember. At least until they are sixteen . Also, thanks for reveiwing and continueing to read this story even though my upadates are not so frequent. Just know that if I had time (and sometimes inspiration) then I would gladly update weekly or even daily. But alas, I get writers block and life jumps up way too much. One last thing, you know how when you turn 11 things start to change right? Well, don't go all crazy on me when you see the chapter kay? I thought I was being quite subtle.

As for updates, now that I have a break from drama it will be consistent! Yay, this story lives! I told ya I wouldn't quit on it. Sowie for the wait.

**The Age: 11 years old. **

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There was excitement all around as he passed by people as blurs. Ron the Rent-a-cop had given him hell over his habits, but he had for a long time now. The need for speed was not the real factor in his obsession. It was the need for freedom. That feeling of freedom was represented through speed and like a caged bird he craved it. People told him it was dangerous, irradical, unmannered to be going along like this in a public place but he didn't care. He made his way dodging the obstacles in front of him as he heard a few shouts of protests when he knocked something over. Okay, so he wasn't perfect... But you know what they said with practice... Oh boy, and how much he'd practice...

There it was, and in his line of sight. He grinned as he approached the fountain. He remembered three years ago how he got splashed trying to do his first trick ever. In fact, he still had that same skateboard up on a mantel in his room. It was his very first skateboard... Though it was small and just for precise. Jen had bought him a new one as soon as he even mentioned it was getting small. As bossy as she was, she sure was considerate...

Kicking the board up he slid across the rim of the fountain and leaped off it as he approached it's end. By that part he was met by applause by his ever so supportive friends.

"Nice one Jude..." Jonesy said as he ushered his friend over to their table. Jude kicked up the skateboard to his hands, one of the first tricks he learned as he walked over with a smile on his face. There they were waiting for him as always on a Saturday noon. He didn't' know anyone else who would be so kind as to spend three years of their weekends to make sure he wasn't lonely.

He sat down beside Wyatt and Jen, grinning goofy at his Latin friend. "Thanks's dude... Hahaha! That rhymed..." Jonesy nodded and slurped his soda. Apparently they had all gotten sodas before he met up with them and Jen handed him his that they had reserved. "Thanks..." he said and drank up as he wore of his adrenaline.

"You know Jude, a rhyme as sweet as that should have some kinda handshake.." Jonesy said casually.

"Yah it should, and I promise I'll work on one with you sometime later." Jude said in agreement, still smiling. He looked around and noticed a person missing. "Dude where's Nikki?"

Jen coughed into her soda as she remembered, putting it down to explain. "I called her to see if she needed a ride or something and she sounded freaked out over the phone." Jude's eyes widened so Jen quickly added the last part to quell any worries. "But she told me she was defiantly coming and to just wait for her here." The four sat and pondered over what could have happened. Nikki was a tough chick and usually she didn't freak out about anything... Or at least anything small. So they figured it had to be BIG. But what?

"You know, maybe it was just something with her parents? We all know how they drive her up the wall. They could be forcing her to wear some ugly outfit or getting her to accompany a Chinese foreign exchange student or something..." Wyatt said wisely as some of the ideas were getting way out of hand. The other three nodded in agreement. There was a part Wyatt played and that was the rationalist. He was calm, cultured and always had a reasonable answer for everything. The others were great too, smart and had good ideas... But still their imaginations and wacky personalities (each wacky in their own sense) tended to blow things way out of proportion. He brought them back down to earth and normality.

"I think that's her now, OI NIKKI!" Jonesy shouted standing up. The punk Asian looked up as her friends questioning eyes bore into hers. Something was different. Her hands were folded over her chest and she was sporting a baggy extra large t-shirt and jeans that hung off her hips. What was wrong with her?

She approached them cautiously and sat down beside Jen in the vacant seat. She saw her friend's worried eyes and anticipated the bomb of questions as it fell on her.

"What happened Nikki? Why'd you sound so panicked over the phone." Jen asked and then her eyes bulged over the clothing choice. "And what's THIS? Spill, what's going on." Nikki looked pleadingly for Jen to understand she couldn't just come outright and say it. Her hands were still over her chest as she tried to close herself off. Jonesy and Wyatt leaned forward to hear and all Jude had to do was peer over Jen's shoulder.

Suddenly there was an unease as tension filled the air. Nikki was special to each of them and if something bad happened they wanted to give their help as much as they could. Nikki noticed how worried they were, even Wyatt who could play the rational hero and Jude who was the mellow Zen skater. Even the reactions of her childhood friend the Male Drama Queen and her female best friend the Crisis Helper shocked her slightly. She blushed, knowing she could not put this off any longer.

Leaning in to Jen's ear she started to whisper to her about something. The boys watched as her eyes went wide and she turned to Nikki with raised eyebrows. "Seriously?" was all the Jen said and with a nod from Nikki she stood up. Facing the boys to address them as Nikki got up as well, Jen only gave this in response to their

questioning stares. "We gotta go and we'll be back." With that and some protest, Nikki and Jen had left the table hurriedly.

"Woah, what just happened here?" asked Wyatt with a glance at the other guys. The two boys could only shrug, their shocked expressions still on their faces.

"How about we like, try and make her feel better when she comes back? Ice cream usually helps girls with that." Jude said as they started to fork out their change from their pockets. Jonesy nodded and put out two dollars.

"Let's get her a supreme double fudge ice cream combo, with the little rainbow chocolate chips. That's her favourite and it fits any girl's desperate situation. Wether being dumped and/or relieving stress it's the thing to give." He recited like a sale's person, giving his sparkly tooth grin at the end of the sentence. At the weirded out looks he was getting she raised his arms to the air dramatically. "What? Okay so I maybe read that out of a chicks magazine but I swear to you I was just scooping!" Wyatt and Jude just shook their heads silently and made their way over to the sweet shoppe to buy her the most biggest, grandest yet most expensive (Hey, four bucks for an

icecream combo, imagine that.) Though they made sure to get five spoons since they'd all get their little tastes.

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Jen and Nikki had quickly rushed to the bathroom where the two girls got into the stall. Jen had locked the door and turned to face Nikki who was sitting on the seat with her arms still around her chest. She sighed lightly, not out of annoyance or fatigue but just because it bothered her about how much of a deal this was to her best friend. She'd never seen her like this and she wanted to make her feel comfortable. To do this, she chose her words carefully not wanting to push Nikki farther into her shell.

"Okay, so when did you notice this happening?" She asked and leaned against the door slightly as she awaited the answer.

"Well..." Nikki started out, looking up at Jen. Knowing that her friend wasn't going to act horribly or make fun of her she let herself confide in Jen. "I noticed it was starting when I was ten and for awhile it was barely noticeable. Even yesterday there was barely any change. I mean, I knew that it was going to happen but..." she stopped, looking down at the tiled floors with a blush on her face. Jen raised her eyebrows lightly but the crouched down in front of her, showing without words she was offering her support.

Unable to explain what had happened without embarrassing herself she took in a deep breathe and spread out her arms.

Jen was confused. The baggy t-shirt showed nothing but well... It's bagginess. "Umm, okay?" Nikki rolled her eyes and then reached to the back of her shirt and pulled so that the material was tight against her. Jen's eyes widened, now she could see what she was talking about. For a second, she didn't know what to say. Nikki quickly let go when her insecurities reached it's peak and she covered her face with her hands. "Well... I gotta admit that's not how you looked a few days ago that's for sure..."

Nikki groaned at this. "I know! It just happened overnight! One minute they were normal and the next boom! They're big!" Jen gave her friend a comforting pat. Suddenly the situation dawned on her and she gave a smile, trying not to laugh at how scared her friend was over something so small.

"Nikki, listen to me." Jen reached up and took her hands so that Nikki would look at her. "It's normal, you're eleven and things start to happen at this age. It's just as Mrs.Heather said it would and it's not that big of a deal." Nikki looked at her with a doubtful look in her eyes so Jen tried another aproach. "You know what? One: They arn't

that big anyway... It looks as fine as it should be. Two: You'd be lucky to have.. You knows... Since they attract so much attention in a positive way! Did you see my sister and how much boys like her for that?" Nikki started to look a little better now, but she was still not sporting a smile as Jen had hoped. So Jen got up from her crouching position and spread out her hands. "Look at me! I'm a STICK! I have nothing and guys call me a boy all the time for that. I'd love to trade any day for what you've got."

There it was, Nikki cracked a smile. Blushing at how stupid she had acted she still looked up timidly. "What if someone... Comments on it?" She asked quietly, her arms had now eased up and Jen was able to take one and lifted her up into a hug. "If they do..." she said beside her ear comfortingly "I'll kill them and kick them so hard they won't be able to sit down for a week." Nikki laughed out loud and finally got over it. Jen unlocked the washroom stall door and stepped out, holding her friends hand.

They walked back to the table where three worrywarts and a grand icecream supremo was awaiting them. Jen sat down in her seat before next to Jude and Nikki sat down beside her, a smile on her face. Jonesy couldn't contain himself, even though the boys had agreed not to pressure it out of their spunky best friend. He leaned in like he had before as Wyatt was distributing the spoons and giving Jonesy a look that clearly said "Don't do it!" but when did Jonesy ever listen to other people's advice?

"Okay, what was the big emergency? How come you threw your fashion sense out of the window and was acting like a shy four year old?" he asked demandingly, almost standing up now. Jonesy was only eleven as all of them were yet he had a voice that was strong instead of boyishly cute. No, he hadn't hit that voice change yet but when he wanted answers you could swear his voice got a tad bit deeper. For awhile there was a pause and the two just glared at each other. Nikki was clutching her spoon and with an act of stubborness she shrugged and dug into her fudge and rainbow chipped icecream.

"Nothing of your business. But since you bought me this I guess I can say it was a girl emergency that's all." Relief flooded Jude and Wyatt's feature's and they smiled at their friend, noticing that she was back to her cow-like stubborn attitude. Jonesy on the other hand looked abashed at the reply. "That's it? A girl emergency? We just blew four bucks on nothing!" he said and slapped his hand on his forehead in disbelief.

Wyatt kicked Jonesy's foot underneath the table and shot him a glare. "Jonesy! Just be glad things are back to normal and that she's okay. Chill." Ah.. More wise words.

Jonsey humphed and reached his spoon over to the sundae, taking out a gigantic scoop of the heavenly flavoured icecream. "Hey!" Nikki said as she watched her beautiful vanilla and chocolate go messily into the mouth of her offender.

He gulped down the wonderful coolness and said as his mouth was coated in vanilla "That's what you get." he said and smirked, wiping away the mess with his backhand.

"Eew! Jonesy use a napkin!" said Jen and pushed one forward to him. He took it and wiped off his hand with a nonchalant shrug. Heck, he didn't care what he did. His parents weren't around to see.

So they dug into the big bowl and ate their cinnasticks and strawberries waffles happily. They had a few discussions about their day and classes, seeing as how each was in a seperate one. Middle school life had started out tough, it still was, but what made it worthwhile was that hey had each other (Insert sappiness here). Jude looked around as he was starting to get bored but noticed something very odd...

"Umm, who's here like, supervising us?" He asked and they all stopped in their consumption of food. Nikki looked at Wyatt with raised eyebrows. "I told my mom that your mom was going to supervise us..." She said as she could have sworn that that's what he told her yesterday. Wyatt shook his head and looked at Jen with a wondering expression.

"Jen told me that her sister was going to take care of us." It was Jen's turn to look shocked as she shook her head, her brown hair that was in a ponytail swishing back and forth with the action. "I was told that Jonesy's dad was going to supervise us..." she then cast a hard glance at the once again abashed boy as he quickly raised his hands up in the air in defense.

"No no no , you see I was told that Nikki's parents were going to supervise!" he said and the two glared at each other for the second time and Nikki leaned in to puch him in the arm. "Liar! I said no such thing..." she hissed to him and sat back down in her seat as he soothed his aching arm.

Jude looked confused at them as they started a heated discussion over who was supervising who and there was nonsense all over the place. Slowly, the gears in his brain started to turn as he relised what that meant. He looked down at his skateboard and a grin came to his face, not that much unlike a bad boy's. He placed his hand on the table and let them have a few more minutes of argument. When it had passed he bellowed out a "STOP!" The four turned to face him with shocked expressions as there was nothing but silence. They also noticed the grin that he was wearing and each of them (even Jonesy) was freaked out. Satisfied he had their attention he began his little insight. "Dudes... Do you know what this means? We're at the mall unsupervised, without parents or anyone! We can run around and do whatever we want!"

Finally, they now understood. But Jen understood something else aswell. "How much cash do we have? I got seventy dollars from my birthday." The friends looked at her as if she had just declared she won the lottery. Seventy bucks of spending money? Wow.. They took a look in their wallets. Jude found thirty dollars which was cool, Jonesy found ten, which for him sucked. Wyatt had a job as a paper boy so he had forty bucks. Nikki opened up her own and found a twenty. Sweet.

Jen quickly took Nikki's hand again, pulling her up from her chair. "Come on Nikki, we'll go to some sales and get you another shirt and jeans 'cuz there's no way you're wearing that for the rest of the day!" Nikki nodded and they went off to find some clothes while the guys knew what they'd hit first: The video game store...

The boys hit it there, challenging each other with masculine competitiveness. Well, actually it was more Jonesy then the others, Wyatt indifferent and Jude too spaced out to care. So naturally, king of games won. Unfourtunatly, he went crazy with his ego and did a little dance whilke whooting, embarrassing the three boys very much. To regain some pride, even though he didn't really care about it, Jude went and schooled all onlookers and taunters with DDR.

Jonesy was impressed and Wyatt was being Wyatt with his indifference and just casually sipped another soda that he bought while watching. Yes yes yes, Jude was the champion in moving his tushie and feet, though with much training from Nikki, the grasshopper won the teacher... Or something like that. No wait, it was surpass... Blah. Anyway he was just glad Nikki wasnt here or else he would have gotten beaten by a girl. Though some confusing thing according to Jen was she would be more ashamed for losing to a boy. Huh? Now poor Jude was lost in thought...

" Jude, JUDE!" Cried Wyatt as the young boy waved his hands in front of his face. Jude looked at him startled, wondering what was up. "You are still standing on the DDR pad even though you're done!" Wyatt's words took awhile to process before Jude looked down with relisation. "Oh!" Jude jumped off the DDR machine and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Goofy grin and all, it was as if these things naturally happened. No biggie.

Wyatt sighed and shook his head. While Jonesy was reading--er, _scoping _through a few girl's magazines. "I wonder what Jen and Nikki are up too?" he said more to himself, just kinda voicing his thoughts out loud as he flipped a few pages. He stopped and just stared at one particular page with his cheesy grin. Yes, we know that they all have their little grins that can be labelled...

"Like they said, shopping for clothes..." Jude remarked lightly as he was battling with Wyatt on a Japanese fighting game."Ichi Ni San Tournament". Jude was the blonde chick since she was so cool and flexable. Wyatt was just some random dude as the two really started to get into it, giving their own "Hiyahs!" and "Whoopas!" as they hit one another. Jonesy just smirked.

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"Okay, so which Tee do you like, the blue or the red?" Jen asked, holding up two t-shirts in her hands. Nikki put her hands up and shrugged, they both looked fine. She just didn't know how to choose. With a sigh Jen put back the two shirts on the hangers, looking at some more that were on display. There had to be something! She took out a white t-shirt that was semi tight and showed off the arms. On the front across the chest area was a big grey skull. "What about this one? I know it's more your style."

Nikki looked it over and then went to the back label. Immedietly she scoffed, pushing the shirt back to Jen. "A _small_? You think I can fit in a _small!"_ her voice snapped disbelievingly. "There is no way I'm wearing a small Jen! I don't want to be in a meduim let alone that!" At the look Jen was giving Nikki, she felt bad suddenly... All her best friend was doing was trying to help and all she did was be a cow. A Big. Fat. Cow. Guilt took over and Nikki bit her lip, wishing she could take back her words. Taking the shirt back and putting it on the display bin without much regard, she took the same one in meduim size. "Hey look, I'm sorry--"

"--It's okay, I understand. Hey you just go into the changroom and I'll be right here waiting." Jen said sincerely, a smile gracing her face. There were times Jen was the wicked witch of the west and it just happened. Although it kinda stung seeing her friend jump out like that it was okay. Nikki was her best friend so she could forgive and forget. Nikki shot back a grateful smile and walked into the changeroom. On that note, Jen started to look for some jeans.

Shopping for Nikki was a little tricky, seeing as how their tastes varied a lot. Nikki liked dark, baggy, loose jeans that showed a bit of personality. Jen would prefer it comfortably fit and faded, though she liked it when the ends flared out at her shoes or ankles. Not wanting to make the same mistake with something too tight or small, she looked at the sizes carefully and pulled out what she thought would go with the jeans.

Making her way back to Nikki's changeroom, she lightly rapped on the door with her knuckles. "Hey Nikki? How's it going in there with the shirt?" she asked through the door. Hearing some shuffling and a curse or too, she nearly laughed at Nikki's answer. "Just fine! Be out in a sec" More curse words... Jen could only guess what type of battle Nikki was having with that. Probably because it was her first time trying on a shirt that didn't hang off her. "Okay then, but I want you to try these on too!" Jen answered back and stood on her tip-toes. She handed the jeans through the top gap where Nikki took it from her.

Chuckling at Nikki's foul mood with clothing, Jen sat down in a plush chair and awaited her friends arival.

Nikki came out, peeking behind the door as Jen looked through a magazine with a bored look. Okay, so she had taken a little longer with the clothes than she should have... But oh well. Taking in a breath she cleared her throat and stood casually, trying not to show that she was nervous.

Jen's gaze shot up to her asian friend and the moment she saw her she squealed. "Ooh! Nikki you look so pretty in that I swear!" She jumped up off her seat, discading the magazine as she took her friend's hand. "Okay, we are going to pay for that nd then go spend out unsupervised day!" she exclaimed. Nikki smiled ands allowed herself to be dragged around, allwong the weekend to start over on a better note.


End file.
